“Submarine Telegraphy”, “Porthcurno Telegraph Museum”, “World War II Museum”… it’s a worry when the name of something you’re trying to find keeps on changing on signs. Still, we found it, but with only an hour before closing. Not enough time, but I’m glad we stopped off.
What we have here is a museum, not far from Land’s End, based around the development of telegraphy from about 1870 until the 1950s. Dull? Heck no. Geeky? A bit. If you’re read The Victorian Internet, you’ll know the kind of things to expect. It’s one of the best museums I’ve been to.
There’s a range of stuff, from the crazy transatlantic cable laying, the life of people working at this particular location, through to telegraph pricing plans.
The thing that made it for me was the instrument room. This is set up as three telegraphy stations, so you can see (and poke about with) original working equipment. I think it was John who was there keeping it all ticking over, and answering questions. The worrying thing for us was that the messaging involved was shocking similar to the telex systems that Jane was working on at BA in the 1990s.
Apparently the day to go is a Monday, because the C&W old boys are in on that day taking the mechanical bits apart and fixing them up.