1870 appears such a long time as so much happened during the last century and first decade of the 21st. Many of us take all new technologies and methods of communication for granted as we have grown up with or adapt to them as fast as they are created. Even going back 15 years there was no Blackberry’s, I-Phones, Twitter, Facebook, Skype calls, wide use of mobile phones and text messaging. However even in this short space of time, it can be hard to imagine a world where some of us could cope without these new communication developments and networks.
Back towards the end of the 19th century all these developments known today, wouldn’t have been possible without the telegraph and early wireless technology. This wave of communication technology led on to telephones, radio, television, the internet and fibre optics. It may appear surprising today that a small village in Cornwall, close to Land’s End was the place the first submarine cables were linked to Europe, across the Atlantic and to other parts of the British Empire. This Cornish valley was the hub of international cable communications until 1970 and stayed as a training college for the industry until 1993.
The museum may only have been created through the charity, the PK trust in 1997, but it already provides access to an internationally recognised resource and has become a centre for the education of the public in the history of telegraph communications. Lots of work is also carried out involving community groups and schools locally. This place on the edge of England should remain as a great part of our history, and has created the significant world of communication we all know today.
For more information: http://www.porthcurno.org.uk
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