The Yarmouth depot maintained Norfolk's lighthouses

It is the end of an era for Trinity House, which operates Norfolk's lighthouses.

The Trinity House Depot in Great Yarmouth closed on Friday after a presence in the town since 1791.

The closure of the depot, which employed 13 staff, was marked by a special ceremony at 1030 BST.

The ceremony was conducted by the Deputy Master of Trinity House, Rear Admiral Jeremy de Halpert CB.

The closure is part of a major programme to see lighthouse operations centralised at Harwich in Essex.

Until the mid 1970s the depot was responsible for the maintenance of lighthouses, light vessel and buoys from the Scottish borders to Southwold in Suffolk.

Since 1998 it has been a general stores depot for the Trinity House Lighthouse Service.

Howard Cooper from Trinity House said they had to move with the times.

"The navigation aids we provide are ever-changing, depending on the shipping that is using the area or the switching in sandbanks.

"We used to have many light vessels in East Anglia and many of those have been replaced with buoys.

"This has led to a general contraction in the number of people we employ."