PK Porthcurno – Museum of Global Communications

Porthcurno Valley owes its unique heritage to the arrival of the first undersea telegraph cable in 1870. Zodiac House, located to the west of the valley, was the very first telegraph station building at Porthcurno, followed by Eastern House, which was constructed in 1904. By 1920, PK had become the largest and most important telegraph station in the world, shaping the landscape of the valley and the community that grew up around it. At one time, the whole valley was owned and operated by the telegraph company, and in wartime, Porthcurno was only accessible by special pass. Today, our museum occupies Eastern House and the secret underground bunker and escape tunnel that was dug into the hillside during WWII, while the old Cable Hut still stands above Porthcurno Beach.

The main museum collection is displayed in Eastern House, which forms a major part of the PK Porthcurno experience. From its construction in 1904, Eastern House was at the heart of the Porthcurno telegraph station site. After World War Two the building was refurbished, extended, and opened as a training school. In 1970, exactly 100 years after the arrival of the first cable, the telegraph station closed, but the training school remained open until 1993.