Museum of Global Communications

PK Porthcurno stands in a small coastal village in Cornwall, beside a sandy beach where submarine cables once came ashore. The museum occupies former telegraph buildings and tunnels cut into the valley’s granite hillside. These tunnels were dug in 1941 to protect equipment during the Second World War. The site began as the world’s largest submarine telegraph station in 1870. It linked Britain with India, then added cables to Newfoundland, France, Spain and Gibraltar. The museum tells how the first messages crossed oceans using direct current impulses. It shows how transistor amplifiers arrived in the 1950s and later fibre-optic cables replaced heavy copper. Exhibits include cable samples, cable-laying ship models and working telegraph machines. A 2010 exhibition called ‘The Nerve Centre of Empire’ was opened by the Princess Royal for school groups. The collection also holds archives from Cable & Wireless plc and photographs of the station’s staff. Visitors walk through the tunnels to see restored equipment and displays about cable ships. The museum’s learning space offers activities for children and young people. Outside, the village remains quiet, with the beach and coastal path nearby. The displays explain how Porthcurno once handled messages for an empire and now explains modern global communications.