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Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a
civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...
and an
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
, both named
St Levan St Levan ( kw, Selevan) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is rural with a number of hamlets of varying size with Porthcurno probably being the best known. Hewn out of the cliff at Minac ...
, which comprise Porthcurno, diminutive St Levan itself, Trethewey and Treen. It is centred west of the railway, market and resort town of Penzance and from
Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
, the most westerly point of the English mainland. Road access is via the north end of the valley along a long cul-de-sac with short branches off the B3283 and land traditionally associated with the village, including its beach, is on the South West Coast Path.


Amenities and homes

The village comprises houses and apartment blocks together with a few commercial premises along the access road known as "The Valley". The road curves inland past Minack Point to St. Levan's Church about from the
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
. At the southern end are: *Large public car park *A small seasonal café *A
public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
. *The South West Coast PathSt. Levan Parish Plan (2006); p 5 The route is marked as two hours from Land's End or about four hours walk from Penzance for the most agile cliff-side path walkers.Ordnance Survey Explorer Map, 1:25,000 scale, Sheet 102 Land's End A low-frequency bus service links Penzance, Lands End and nearby villages and hamlets including
Newlyn Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Newlyn lies on the shore of Moun ...
,
Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
,
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
, Lamorna,
St Buryan St Buryan ( kw, Pluwveryan) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village of St Buryan is situated approximately west of Penzance along the B3283 to ...
, Treen, Trethewey, Polgigga and
Sennen Sennen (''Cornish: Sen Senan'' or ''Sen Senana'') is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance.Ordnance Survey: Landra ...
. Porthcurno is largely not farms or fisherman's cottages today, having its linear centre inland, centred west of the railway, market and resort town of Penzance and from
Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
, the most westerly point of the English mainland. In the most local-level organisational and community bodies, it is in civil and ecclesiastical parishes named Saint Levan and usually spelt as St Leven since the 18th century.Ordnance Survey Landranger Map, 1:50,000 scale, Map Sheet 203 Land's End and the Isles of Scilly


The Cable Station and Engineering College

Porthcurno is unusually well known for its size because of its history as a major international submarine communications cable station. In the late nineteenth century, the remote beach at Porthcurno became internationally famous as the British termination of early submarine telegraph cables, the first of which was landed in 1870, part of an early international link stretching all the way from the UK to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, which was then a British colony.Godwin; p 67 Porthcurno was chosen in preference to the busy port of Falmouth because of the reduced risk of damage to the cables caused by ships'
anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ ...
s.Hart-Davis; p 102 In 1872, the Eastern Telegraph Company (ETC) Limited was formed which took over the operation of the cables and built a cable office in Porthcurno valley. The concrete cable hut, where the cable shore ends were connected to their respective landlines, is a
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
and still stands at the top of the beach. ETC and its cable operations expanded through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in 1928 to merge with
Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
Limited to form Imperial and International Communications Limited which was renamed Cable and Wireless Limited in 1934. Cable and Wireless Limited was a predecessor company of
Cable & Wireless Worldwide Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (informally Cable & Wireless) was a British multinational telecommunications services company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. It was formed in 2010 by the split of Cable & Wireless plc into two com ...
and
Cable & Wireless Communications Cable & Wireless Communications Ltd operating as C&W Communications is a telecommunications company which has operations in the Caribbean and Central America. It is owned by Liberty Latin America and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It ...
. In the inter-war years, the Porthcurno cable office operated as many as 14 cables, for a time becoming the largest submarine cable station in the world, with the capacity to receive and transmit up to two million words a day. Porthcurno is still known
colloquially Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conversa ...
by the
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
'PK' being represented in Morse code as 'di-dah-dah-dit' followed by 'dah-di-dah', communicating with a line operator and testing connections, an acronym often sent.Bell; p 4 Over the years, many
apprentices Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
were trained at the Porthcurno cable office in
telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
and supporting skills, initially by ETC and then by Cable and Wireless. In 1950 the latter, nationalised, opened its Porthcurno engineering college which provided many courses in branches of
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
for employees, secondees and external students. The cable office closed in 1970, exactly 100 years after the first cable was landed, but the college remained open, receiving substantial investment in buildings and training equipment through the 1970s and 1980s; however, due to its isolation from towns, it closed in 1993. Some of its buildings were demolished. After the closure of the college, the award-winning
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum PK Porthcurno is a museum located in the small coastal village of Porthcurno Cornwall, UK. Porthcurno was the point at which many submarine telegraph cables— transatlantic and to other locations—came ashore. The first cables were direct cur ...
was opened. This museum has been featured locally and nationally on educational programmes, including the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
TV documentary series '' What the Victorians Did for Us'' and ''Coast''. It occupies some of the former college buildings and includes many exhibits, in 'The Tunnel'.


World War II tunnels

The cable office at Porthcurno was a critical communications centre and considered at serious risk of attack during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, being only about from the port of
Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...
in occupied France.Bell; p. 6 To improve security, a network of two parallel tunnels, connected by two smaller cross-tunnels, was bored into the granite valley east side by local
tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use can ...
labourers, starting in June 1940, to accommodate the essential telegraph equipment.Godwin; pp. 76–77 Each of the two main entrances was protected by offset double bomb-proof and
gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
-proof doors. To provide evacuation for staff in case the defences failed, a covert emergency escape route was provided by granite steps cut into a steeply rising fifth tunnel leading from the rear cross tunnel to a concealed exit in the fields above. Each of the main tunnel interiors was that of a windowless open-plan office constructed as a building shell within the granite void, complete with a pitched roof to collect water seepage from the rocks, a false ceiling, plastered and decorated walls, and all the necessary services. In total about 15,000  tons of rock were removed to construct the tunnels. The construction work progressed relentlessly day and night, taking nearly a year, and the completed tunnels were opened in May 1941 by Lady Wilshaw who was the wife of Sir Edward Wilshaw, Chairman of Cable and Wireless at the time. The concrete defences around the tunnel entrances and the nearby buildings were
camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
d with the help of a local artist< the design, when viewed from the air with some imagination, resembled a belt of trees, complete with rabbits and birds. The tunnel environment being secure, dry, and at a virtually constant temperature proved to be ideal for the sensitive telegraph equipment and it continued to house the subsequently upgraded equipment after the war until the cable office closure in 1970. It was then used for training facilities for the Engineering College until the college itself also closed in 1993. Today the tunnel houses exhibits of, and is itself an exhibit of, the Museum of Global Communications, operated by PK Porthcurno.Godwin; p 79


Porthcurno coastal area

The cliffs and coastline around Porthcurno are officially designated
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...
. Part of the
Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers in Cornwall, England, UK; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 for ...
(AONB) and widely considered as some of the most visually stunning in the United Kingdom. Porthcurno beach and bay enclosed by the Logan Rock headland has been listed among the ten most beautiful bays in the World. The cliffs are enjoyed by walkers using the many public footpaths in the area and the protected South West Coastal Footpath passes through the area often within just a few yards of the clifftops. Coastal areas around Porthcurno, including those formerly owned by Cable and Wireless, are now owned, preserved and maintained by the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
and the remainder by the local parish council on behalf of
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition ...
. The nearby cliffs rise to 60 m to 70 m
above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...
and are formed from a bedrock of prismatic
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
; over the geological timescales having been eroded, shaped and divided vertically and horizontally sometimes almost into rounded cubic blocks.Knowlden; p 8 An ancient bridleway, probably an early route to Porthcurno beach via the nearby Trendrennen Farm, about half a mile to the east of the village, has been opened by the Ramblers Association. This was probably used by horse-drawn carts to collect seaweed which was used for land fertilisation. Porthcurno beach and bay, a few hundred yards south of the village is situated in the shelter of the
Logan Rock The Logan Rock ( kw, Men Omborth, meaning ''balanced stone'') near the village of Treen in Cornwall, England, UK, is an example of a logan or rocking stone. Although it weighs some 80 tons, it was dislodged in 1824 by a group of British seamen, ...
headland just less than to the east. The beach is noted for its
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
of crushed, white sea shells, privacy and isolation rather than movement of ships.Andrews; p 506Andrews; p 24 Porthcurno Bay has been described as "floored by glorious white sand that shines through translucent water".Rainsley; p 147 Sometimes combinations of wind,
tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
s and sea currents can change the 'sandscape' dramatically in a few hours, but the volume of sand is sufficient that it is unusual for the beach to be completely inundated by the sea at high tide. To the immediate east of Porthcurno beach, on the other side of Percella Point is a small tidal beach called Green Bay. Sometimes this is accessible with caution from Porthcurno beach at low tide. Another tidal beach called Pedn Vounder lies further to the east between Porthcurno and the Logan Rock headland for which footpath access is by a steep and rugged path leading down from the cliff path. Often a sand bank forms off Pedn Vounder at low tide. Unlike the nearby fishing coves of Penberth and
Porthgwarra Porthgwarra ( kw, Porth Gorwedhow, meaning ''very wooded cove'') is a small coastal village in the civil parish of St Levan, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom situated between Land's End and Porthcurno. Access to the cove is via a minor ro ...
, about to the east and west respectively, Porthcurno has no known recent history of commercial fishing activity.


Demography


White pyramid

About halfway along the main coastal footpath from Porthcurno to Logan Rock another path loops off to the cliffs above Pedn Vounder beach. Beside this is a
pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
built from granite blocks and painted white, about tall. For navigation, it replaced a brightly coloured hut which housed the termination of another submarine telegraph cable connected to the French port of
Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...
owned by ''La Compagnie Française de Telegraphe de Paris à New York'', which was laid in 1880. Overhead lines carried the signals to and from Penzance which had the cable office.Godwin; p 69 Some of the stone ducting which was built up on the cliffside to protect the cable is still visible from the footpath nearby. This was part of the first cable connection from the UK to the American continent passing from Porthcurno to Brest and then via the trans-Atlantic cable first to
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (french: link=no, Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre et Miquelon ), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in t ...
near the coast of Canada, and then a further to
Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. In 1919, another ''Compagnie Française'' cable was laid to Porthcurno but this was terminated in the Cable Hut at the top of the beach a few hundred yards to the west where it remained in operation until 1962.


Logan Rock

The
Logan Rock The Logan Rock ( kw, Men Omborth, meaning ''balanced stone'') near the village of Treen in Cornwall, England, UK, is an example of a logan or rocking stone. Although it weighs some 80 tons, it was dislodged in 1824 by a group of British seamen, ...
headland, about 30 minutes' walk from Porthcurno to the east along the coastal footpath around Porthcurno Bay is famous for the 80 ton
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
rocking stone (Logan Rock) perched at the top of the middle
outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...
of rocks on the small rocky peninsula. Millennia of
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
had balanced it so finely that one person could move it easily. In 1824, a group of sailors led by Lieutenant Hugh Calville Goldsmith, nephew of the poet Oliver Goldsmith, and the worse for drink climbed up to Logan Rock armed with crowbars and dislodged it, allowing it to fall down the cliff. Such was the disgust of the local people at this blatant act of
vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term ...
, that they complained to the Admiralty and Goldsmith was ordered to replace the rock at his own expense. It took seven months, 60 labourers and cost Goldsmith £130 8s d at 1824 prices () to replace it. The original
invoice An invoice, bill or tab is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products or services the seller had provided the buyer. Payment ...
for equipment and labour is now displayed on the wall of The Logan Rock
public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
in the nearby village of Treen. Just to the north of the peninsula is evidence of an
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
cliff fort called Treryn Dinas, a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
comprising about five ramparts, ditches and some evidence of round dwelling huts. There is a small rocky island off the Logan Rock peninsula called Horrace and another smaller granite island called Great Goular which is only visible at low tide.


Climate and tourism

The
prevailing wind In meteorology, prevailing wind in a region of the Earth's surface is a surface wind that blows predominantly from a particular direction. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind with the highest speed over a particular point o ...
is from the south west and the winters are unusually mild for its
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
because of the influence of the warm Gulf Stream sea current crossing the Atlantic Ocean from warmer seas around the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
. The local area has some of the highest ''average'' annual air temperatures of the United Kingdom. In common with much of the south Cornish coast, summer daily maxima rarely exceed about 25 degrees Celsius (77°F) and below freezing temperatures and frost are uncommon. The lower valley and beach enjoy a micro-climate being sheltered from winds in most directions. For the more exposed cliff-top areas, gale-force winds are common throughout the year which occasionally cause moderate structural damage to buildings locally. In the summer months Porthcurno is popular with families on holiday with young children who enjoy playing on the beach and perhaps some supervised bathing, as the beach is prone to strong rip currents. In the quieter seasons visitors tend to be local people and day-trippers from other parts of Cornwall. Many tourists come from elsewhere in the United Kingdom and abroad and may have rented self-catering or bed and breakfast accommodation nearby. The
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum PK Porthcurno is a museum located in the small coastal village of Porthcurno Cornwall, UK. Porthcurno was the point at which many submarine telegraph cables— transatlantic and to other locations—came ashore. The first cables were direct cur ...
and the
Minack Theatre The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at Porthcurno, from Land's End in Cornwall, England. The season runs each year from May ...
, both bring visitors to the area.


History


Porthkornow, Porthcornow

The name Porthcurno evolved from the 16th century Cornish spelling 'Porth Cornowe'. In the Cornish language '' (standard written form uses "c") meant 'cove/landing place of horns or pinnacles', a reference to the granite rock formations in the vicinity. Some evidence of early commercial port activity exists in the remains of man-made stone tracks for horse-drawn vehicles which may have provided access to the beach, visible on one of the footpaths near the south side of the car park ascending the east side of the valley.


Industrial and wartime developments

Development of the area was dominated for over one hundred years by the operations of the cable station owned by Cable and Wireless plc and its predecessor companies. Probably over 90% of the inhabitants were either employees of Cable and Wireless or were directly supported by it. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Porthcurno was designated a ''Vulnerable Point'' and was heavily defended and fortified as a part of British anti-invasion preparations. At the beginning of the war a small guard of special constables was put on duty at the cable office and cable house, later superseded by a
platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...
of soldiers who camped on a former
bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
. Porthcurno valley was declared a protected place and as many as 300 troops were deployed in the immediate area to guard the station.Bell; p 7 Passes were issued to residents and visitors who had business to be in the area and many mock attacks were staged. The defences included pillboxes and a petroleum warfare beach flame barrage which could be operated remotely from the tunnel. At the end of the War, although some 867 bombs fell in the (Penzance) area and 3,957 houses were damaged or destroyed, the only damage suffered by any communications equipment at Porthcurno was the destruction of an antenna when a bomb fell at Rospletha Farm, located at the top of the hill about half a mile to the west of the cable office.


Submarine optical fibre cables

Porthcurno's association with international telecommunications links continues to the present day. The first successors to submarine telegraph cables were submarine
telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...
cables of
coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire condu ...
construction, some of which were landed at Porthcurno. In the last twenty years or so these have all been superseded by their very high-capacity modern descendants, those using fibre optic technology as the transmission medium instead of copper. These also have been landed at Porthcurno forming a significant link, part of the UK connection to the international
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
'backbone' infrastructure. These form parts of international cable networks and include systems known as Trans-Atlantic Telephone Cable 12/13 (TAT-12/13), Gemini, Fibre-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG), and RIOJA. Each of these has thousands of times the capacity of all of their predecessors' cables put together. However, all of the successors of the telegraph cables today use Porthcurno merely as a shore landing-point for connecting to the national telecommunications network, passing directly via landlines buried under the local roads to a terminating station at Skewjack about inland from Porthcurno. Much of the beach and surrounding shores previously owned by Cable and Wireless was donated to the
National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
in 1993. Many of the houses built for the former Engineering College have been converted to holiday flats, making the population very seasonally dependent. Today the major industry in the area is tourism.


Church of St Levan

The 12th and 15th-century church of St Levan is between St Levan proper and Porthcurno, towards the end of the cul-de-sac main village road. It has medieval foundations and is adjoined by a graveyard which has two of the parish's six stone crosses and a small car park. It sits close to the coast path, lightly wooded slopes and adjoins pasture
meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
s. The largely unadulterated exterior has featured in the BBC drama '' Doctor Who''.


Minack Theatre

Narrowly out of sight of Porthcurno beach in the cliff face to the west is the
Minack Theatre The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at Porthcurno, from Land's End in Cornwall, England. The season runs each year from May ...
, a unique open-air theatre with a unique stage backdrop of Porthcurno Bay and the Logan Rock headland. It is an unusual setting for plays staged during the summer months ranging from the traditional
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
to the more contemporary. The theatre is accessible on foot from the coastal footpath by a rugged path in the cliff face or more easily by road taking the steep narrow hill leaving Porthcurno to the south towards St. Levan Church and turning left at the top. It was built virtually single-handedly by the late Rowena Cade who worked there into her eighties with the support of local labourers. Today the Rowena Cade exhibition centre, coffee shop and theatre are open to visitors for most of the year except during performances.


Wireless Point

A small headland to the west of the Minack Theatre called Pedn-men-an-Mere, which is now owned by The National Trust, (Cornish: 'rocky headland by the sea') is known locally as 'Wireless Point'. Here, exposed areas of granite bedrock and concrete
plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...
s retain the preserved remains of the base and
guy wire A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and tents. A thi ...
tether points of a
wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...
antenna mast that was erected in 1902 by the Eastern Telegraph Company.Godwin; p 72 It was thought that this was used to 'spy' on the early wireless transmissions by Marconi, a developer of radio, from the Poldhu cliff top about to the east, across
Mount's Bay Mount's Bay ( kw, Baya an Garrek) is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin ...
on the west side of the
Lizard Peninsula The Lizard ( kw, An Lysardh) is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; Lizard village, also known as The Lizard, is the most southerl ...
. In those days Marconi's 'wireless telegraphy' was seen as a potential threat to the established 'cable and line telegraphy' on which the security of Porthcurno and many jobs depended. A small hut was built nearby to house the early wireless equipment and remained there for a further 21 years. The company mistakenly concluded that Marconi's efforts posed no threat to their cable business. Marconi's secretive development of the Shortwave Beam Wireless System at Poldhu would be so successful that Eastern and many other cable telegraph companies were forced into near -bankruptcy by 1928. There is a pair of large boulders near the cliff edge of which the smaller one, weighing about 5 tons, can be rocked by the weight of one adult.


Porth Chapel beach

Pedn-men-an-Mere overlooks the small secluded tidal beach of Porth Chapel to the west. Porth Chapel beach is named after the remains of a Christian site and
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
chapel visible next to the footpath about above the beach. There is a spring known as the St. Levan Holy Well up on the cliff which may be reached by restored medieval granite steps. The steps were covered for many years but were discovered in 1931 by the Reverend HT Valantine and Dr Vernon Favel. They were restored in 2003, part of a Cornwall County Council restoration project, and were opened by
Sophie, Countess of Wessex Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Forfar, (born Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, 20 January 1965) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar, the youngest brother of King Charles III. She grew u ...
.


Notable residents

The British philosopher
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
, his wife Dora and their children
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
and
Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...
spent the summer months from 1922 to 1927 in Porthcurno.


See also

*
Abermawr Abermawr is a stretch of coastline and is regarded as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Abermawr is a mostly shingle beach with marsh and woodland behind it. It is popular with many walkers who are walking along the co ...
– the 1866 eastern terminal of the transatlantic telegraph cable


References


General references

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

*
Wire around the World
Porthcurno to Alice Springs by Telegraph, BBC Radio 4
St. Levan Holy Well restoration projectCornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for Porthcurno
{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Penwith Beaches of Penwith National Trust properties in Cornwall History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom