Portland Bill – © Kevin Borg

Trinity House has agreed a lease with The Crown Estate for the former lighthouse keepers’ cottages at Portland Bill Lighthouse in Dorset on the south coast of England. The premises will be rejuvenated to house a new visitor experience themed around the maritime history of Trinity House and its responsibilities providing aids to navigation, charitable support and educational services to the mariner since 1514.

Portland Bill Lighthouse has been popular with visitors for many years but their experience to date has been limited to ascending the lighthouse; the new centre will engage visitors in the history, workings and importance of aids to navigation such as lighthouses and fog signals and the people who made it all work. The displays will demonstrate the nature of modern aids to navigation and demonstrate why as an island nation – dependent on the sea for trade – they remain of critical importance to the safety of the mariner and to a growing maritime leisure community.