The Trinity House of Deptford 'Stroud. By C. R. B.
Barrett. (Lawrence and Bullen.)—" The Trinity House is believed to have taken its rise, early in the fifteenth century, from a guild or fra- ternity of pilots, seamen, and mariners located at Deptford Stroud, in the county of Kent." So writes Mr. Barrett in his first chapter. Its incorporation took place about a century later. Mr. Barrett has put together in this volume a number of interesting facts con- cerning its history. It was not always, it will be understood, the dignified body which it now is, with a Royal Duke for its Master, and great statesmen and Admirals among its Elder Brethren ; but it has performed for many years a most useful function. Some day Mr. Barrett might tell at length the story of the English lighthouses, a story full of romance. Most people know little of the history of any beyond the Eddystone, yet how curious those histories often are I There is the Skerries Light- house, for instance, built early in the eighteenth century, a light-
house on the Skerries Rook, seven miles N.N.E. of Holyhead. It cost something more than £3,000, and was for some years a con- siderable expense, the authorised tolls being difficult of collection. But in 1835 the Trinity Board bought it for £445,000, the tolls then amounting to £20,000 per annum.
Previous page
