Where
The valley of Porthcurno, about three miles from Land's End in Cornwall.
What
Britain's only museum of submarine telegraphy, says its director, Libby Buckley. The museum is housed in an old telegraphy station set up by Cable & Wireless, which was operational from 1870 to 1994.
The museum's premises include two interconnecting 150-foot tunnels that were blasted out of the rock by Cornish miners at the start of the second world war.
"Churchill said that we were too important to be left unprotected," explains Buckley. The tunnels are bomb and gas-proof. There is also a small beach hut where the transatlantic cables come out of the sea.
Opened
1998.
Collection
"We have a very specialised collection of all kinds of telegraph equipment," says Buckley. "There is original equipment dating from 1870 to the end of the telegraphy era."
She singles out a mirror galvanometer, invented by Lord Kelvin, which strengthens the signal of an incoming telegraph and "lots of Morse code keys", the tapping devices used to beat out all the dots and the dashes.
Help at hand
Four full-time members of staff, including Buckley, who joined 18 months ago from the British Postal Museum and Archive. There are also a few part-time and seasonal staff, and about 40 "very keen and very, very important" volunteers.
Budget
£350,000 a year from different sources, including admissions (an adult ticket is £5.50, including Gift Aid). Through the Connecting Cornwall project, the Telegraph Museum and the University of Exeter have recently received £288,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to use the Cable & Wireless historic archive to develop new research into the communications industry in Cornwall.
Visits
Just under 20,000 in 2007.
Highlights
"Many come to see the tunnels, which are Grade 2 listed," says Buckley. "As a location next to a beach, we are also pretty good. The cable hut, the place where 14 cables from all over the world come up, is also very popular."
Survival tip
"Be ambitious. Apply for the biggest grants you can find. Apply for more than you need. So much effort goes into writing these applications, you may as well."
Sticky moment
"Just before Christmas, I had to dress up as an elf to help Santa out at the museum's do," winces Buckley. "At that moment, in walked a local dignitary whom I had to meet. I did feel a bit of an idiot."
Current project
"We are in the very early stages of thinking how to redevelop our main building," Buckley says, "and we are really working hard on our science education side. We are the only museum west of Bristol that has any focus on this, so it is necessary."
The valley of Porthcurno, about three miles from Land's End in Cornwall.
What
Britain's only museum of submarine telegraphy, says its director, Libby Buckley. The museum is housed in an old telegraphy station set up by Cable & Wireless, which was operational from 1870 to 1994.
The museum's premises include two interconnecting 150-foot tunnels that were blasted out of the rock by Cornish miners at the start of the second world war.
"Churchill said that we were too important to be left unprotected," explains Buckley. The tunnels are bomb and gas-proof. There is also a small beach hut where the transatlantic cables come out of the sea.
Opened
1998.
Collection
"We have a very specialised collection of all kinds of telegraph equipment," says Buckley. "There is original equipment dating from 1870 to the end of the telegraphy era."
She singles out a mirror galvanometer, invented by Lord Kelvin, which strengthens the signal of an incoming telegraph and "lots of Morse code keys", the tapping devices used to beat out all the dots and the dashes.
Help at hand
Four full-time members of staff, including Buckley, who joined 18 months ago from the British Postal Museum and Archive. There are also a few part-time and seasonal staff, and about 40 "very keen and very, very important" volunteers.
Budget
£350,000 a year from different sources, including admissions (an adult ticket is £5.50, including Gift Aid). Through the Connecting Cornwall project, the Telegraph Museum and the University of Exeter have recently received £288,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to use the Cable & Wireless historic archive to develop new research into the communications industry in Cornwall.
Visits
Just under 20,000 in 2007.
Highlights
"Many come to see the tunnels, which are Grade 2 listed," says Buckley. "As a location next to a beach, we are also pretty good. The cable hut, the place where 14 cables from all over the world come up, is also very popular."
Survival tip
"Be ambitious. Apply for the biggest grants you can find. Apply for more than you need. So much effort goes into writing these applications, you may as well."
Sticky moment
"Just before Christmas, I had to dress up as an elf to help Santa out at the museum's do," winces Buckley. "At that moment, in walked a local dignitary whom I had to meet. I did feel a bit of an idiot."
Current project
"We are in the very early stages of thinking how to redevelop our main building," Buckley says, "and we are really working hard on our science education side. We are the only museum west of Bristol that has any focus on this, so it is necessary."