Porthcurno (, meaning "pinnacle cove", see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ecclesiastical parish, both named St Levan, 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, 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. At the southern end are: Large public car park A small seasonal café A public house. The South West Coast Path 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. A low-frequency bus service links Penzance, Lands End and nearby villages and hamlets including Newlyn, Paul, Sheffield, Lamorna, St Buryan, Treen, Trethewey, Polgigga and Sennen. 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, 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. 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, which was then a British colony. Porthcurno was chosen in preference to the busy port of Falmouth because of the reduced risk of damage to the cables caused by ships' anchors. In 1872, the Eastern Telegraph Company (ETC) Limited