Tourist information – you may find useful Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden -- is a unique experience, offering a remarkable insight into the work and outlook of one of Britain's most important twentieth century artists. Sculptures in bronze, stone and wood are on display in the Museum and Garden, along with paintings, drawings and archive material.

Barbara Hepworth first came to live in Cornwall with her husband Ben Nicholson and their young family at the outbreak of war in 1939. She lived and worked in Trewyn studios, now the Hepworth Museum, from 1949 until her death in 1975. Following her wish to establish her home and studio as a museum of her work, Trewyn Studio and much of the artist's work remaining there was given to the nation and placed in the care of the Tate Gallery in 1980. Porthcurno Telegraph Museum -- As a major cable station and the hub of the Eastern Telegraph Company's international links, Porthcurno (known as 'PK') was an obvious enemy target. In 1914, a detachment of 43 soldiers arrived and was billeted in the theatre. Windows were sandbagged, barbed wire was erected and trenches were dug on the beach. A censor was posted there and the wireless hut on the cricket field was commandeered by the Senior Inspector of Telegraphs. During the Second World War, more drastic protection was needed for the telegraph station. Tunnels were cut in the cliffs by local tin miners and communications operations were moved inside. Flame throwers were also set up on the beach. In the musuem you can see an extraordinary colour film from 1941 of these flamethrowers being tested.

Brunel's Great Eastern Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed the Great Eastern in 1851. Its maiden voyage in 1859 signified the beginning of a gripping, sometimes terrible but always fascinating story of tenacity and persistence in the face of great odds. A giant amongst ships, the exhibition 'Brunel's Great Eastern' is a story about the dreams and ambitions of an era.

The Great Cable Layer Image: Halpin image In an attempt to regain some of the losses the ship had endured during her life the managers decided to place the Great Eastern as the main prize in an international raffle. The idea soon failed and in 1864 it was decided to auction the ship off. Daniel Gooch bought the ship for £25,000. Daniel Gooch and Cyrus Field planned to use the Great Eastern to lay a telegraph cable from the UK all the way to America.

For the trans-Atlantic cable expedition the Great Eastern acquired its eighth captain, Captain James Anderson, with Robert Halpin as its First Officer. For the refit, the fourth funnel, as well as 2 of the ships 10 boilers were removed. Saloons, cabins and holds were also ripped out to make way for the huge cable tanks. To complete the refit huge cable paying-out and pick-up gear was fitted on the deck making the Great Eastern look more like an engineering factory than an ocean liner. Cyrus Field had been involved in the failed trans-Atlantic cable expedition laid by the Agamemnon and the Niagara in 1858. Then both ships carried half the cable each met in the middle of the Atlantic, joined the cables and then headed for home. This time the Great Eastern could carry enough cable for the entire journey.

With a constant stream of test messages being sent from the electricians on board the ship, along the laid cable to the cable hut in Valencia, the Great Eastern made its way slowly across the Atlantic. The messages were sent in a pre-arranged series of 29 messages sent too Valencia with a series of 30 messages back to the Great Eastern. This way, the electricians could check whether the cable that they had laid was still working. The electricians huddled around the mirror galvanometer as it flickered the reflected candle light across a gauge placed in a darkened caboose on the deck of the Great Eastern. If the cable would break, the messages would cease and an electrician would duck-out from underneath the black out curtain and sound a bronze gong placed outside the caboose.