The Transatlantic Cable Ensemble: Valentia – Heart’s Content, is one step closer to becoming a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding today between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Kerry County Council, Ireland.
The Honourable Steve Crocker, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, and Councillor John Francis Flynn, Mayor of Kerry, signed the agreement between their respective jurisdictions, at a ceremony this morning in Valentia, County Kerry, Ireland.
The Memorandum of Understanding formalizes the parties’ continued collaboration and shared leadership toward the goal of having the Transatlantic Cable Ensemble inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The first successful permanent transatlantic cable was laid between Heart’s Content, Newfoundland and Labrador and Valentia Island, Ireland in 1866. The ability to instantly and accurately communicate between the old and new worlds was one of the major milestones in human history, engineering, communications, and the birth of globalization.
Since 2013, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been in regular discussions with representatives from Valentia and Kerry County Council in Ireland, as well as Parks Canada and the Irish National Monuments Service (the respective UNESCO state parties), to have the two sites nominated as a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A UNESCO World Heritage transboundary submission requires both historic cable stations be included on their respective country’s Tentative List for World Heritage Sites. The Heart’s Content Cable Station Provincial Historic Site was named as one of eight new sites on Canada’s Tentative List In December 2017. In July 2022, the Valentia Cable Station was added to Ireland’s Tentative List.
More information about the relationship between Heart’s Content and Valentia, Ireland is provided in the backgrounder below.
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“For more than 150 years, Heart’s Content, Newfoundland and Labrador and Valentia Island, Ireland, have shared a unique and world-altering history of global communications. This Memorandum of Understanding is an important next step toward achieving international recognition as a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site. I look forward to building on our wonderful relationship with our partners in Valentia and at Kerry County Council and continuing this important work.”
Honourable Steve Crocker
Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation
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BACKGROUNDER
UNESCO World Heritage Nomination – Heart’s Content/Valentia Cable Stations
The first successful Transatlantic cable was laid between Heart’s Content, Newfoundland and Labrador and Valentia Island, Ireland in 1866. It was the culmination of a grandiose mid-19th century American-British plan to connect North America and Europe via an 1886 nautical mile submarine telegraph cable along the Atlantic seabed. The idea was considered by many at that time to be impossible.
Requiring ten years and five attempts, this world altering engineering and scientific achievement (called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” at that time) represents one of the major milestones in human history, engineering, communications, and the birth of globalization. The ability to instantly and accurately communicate between the old and new worlds resulted in commercial, political, military, media, and social impacts around the world.
Permanent cable stations were built at Valentia (1868) and Heart’s Content (current station dates from 1875/76) as the respective eastern and western termini of the cable, establishing both communities as international communications centres for over a century. Between 1866 and 1894, six different cables were connected between Valentia and Heart’s Content.
The Heart’s Content and Valentia Cable Stations are the complete surviving testament to the outstanding genius and perseverance behind this world altering feat. The Heart’s Content Cable Station was designated a Provincial Historic Site in 1974 and has been operated by GNL as a provincial telecommunications museum ever since. It is arguably one of the best-preserved 19th century telegraph cable stations worldwide.
Since 2013, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been in regular discussions with Valentia/Kerry County Council, Parks Canada (Canadian UNESCO State Party) and the Irish Department of Heritage (Irish UNESCO State Party) regarding a possible transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination for the Transatlantic Cable Ensemble: Valentia – Heart’s Content.
A UNESCO World Heritage transboundary submission requires both historic Cable Stations to be included on their respective country’s Tentative List for World Heritage Sites. In December 2017, the Heart’s Content Cable Station Provincial Historic Site was named as one of eight new sites on Canada’s Tentative List. In July 2022, the Valentia Cable Station was added to Ireland’s Tentative List.
In November 2020, the communities of Heart’s Content and Valentia signed a Declaration of Cooperation – an informal commitment to working cooperatively in support of various efforts to commemorate and promote the historic links between the two communities.
The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation and Kerry County Council, as co-applicants on the transboundary submission, have chosen to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the partnership required to advance the nomination and ultimately achieve UNESCO World Heritage inscription.
The MOU between GNL and Kerry County Council is not a legally binding agreement. It is a commitment of continued collaboration and shared leadership towards the goal of having the Transatlantic Cable Ensemble inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.