Exhibition: Guiding Lights: 500 years of Trinity House and safety at sea

Guiding Lights showcases centuries of invaluable work by the Corporation of Trinity House to help sailors navigate safely at sea, preventing countless shipwrecks and immense loss of life.

Marking the 500th anniversary of Trinity House, the gallery displays 70 rarely seen objects from Trinity House and the Museum’s own collection, telling stories of the heroic and the extraordinary from throughout the organisation’s history, and of human fortitude in the face of the immense power of the sea.

The history of Britain’s lighthouses is told through intricate models, dramatic film and the personal effects of lighthouse keepers. Lightvessels, buoys and yachts are illustrated through rarely-seen, beautiful watercolour sketches by accomplished marine artist William Lionel Wyllie. Tales of personal bravery include that of lighthouse keeper’s daughter and plucky heroine Grace Darling.