A fan-made tribute to Dobby the House Elf at Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire has caused planners to reroute a £430m undersea power cable linking the UK and Ireland, after Harry Potter enthusiasts flooded the project team with complaints. The Greenlink interconnector, which runs between County Wexford and the Welsh coastline, was completed in April after engineers shifted its path away from the makeshift memorial.
According to Metro, the finished interconnector stretches 190km and carries 500 megawatts of high-voltage direct current power, enough to supply an estimated 380,000 homes.
Why did fans object to the cable route?
The cable's original path would have run directly through the spot where fans have left painted stones and messages in tribute to Dobby, the elf whose death was filmed on the beach for the Harry Potter films. Simon Ludlam, founder of Etchea Energy and project manager on the scheme, told the Energy Revolution podcast that the route was initially set to go straight through the site before public pressure intervened.
"Actually we went quite close to some real Bronze Age remains, but we avoided Dobby's grave," he said.
How did the backlash unfold?
Ludlam said the controversy began after he gave what he assumed was a routine broadcast interview explaining the project. He recalled describing the cable's path to a television crew on the beach itself.
"I remember BBC Wales said could you come down and do a quick thing, so we stood on the beach and I explained 'here's the sea, the cable is all underground, it goes up into the dunes and then right at the top of the dune there it then exits and goes into the road and off you go'."
"We did the shot, we finished I went back to London, and they then aired it a couple of weeks later. And we got hundreds of calls, I mean hundreds of calls."
Per Recharge News, Ludlam confirmed the flood of "hundreds" of calls from worried fans ultimately pushed planners to redraw the cable's route.
Ludlam said a colleague first alerted him to the scale of concern, telling him the firm was apparently about to route the cable straight through what callers described as Dobby's grave.
"I said 'Dobby, who's Dobby? I don't know Dobby?' I said 'he's a fictitious character in a fictitious book, the whole thing is fictitious what are you talking about?'"
"[The colleague] said 'no it's very, very serious'."
Ludlam said he subsequently worked with planners to identify an alternative course for the cable that would keep it well clear of the tribute site.
"A lot of people were very happy about that, and the project is now going [ahead] and Dobby's happy."
What is the history behind Dobby's grave?
In the Harry Potter story, Dobby dies at Freshwater West while helping Harry Potter and his allies escape from Malfoy Manor, according to Recharge News. The scene's filming location turned the beach into a pilgrimage site, with fans building a memorial out of painted stones, inscriptions and, at times, socks.
This is not the first occasion the tribute has been protected from removal. In 2022, the National Trust, which manages the beach, agreed following a public consultation that the memorial could remain in place, while asking visitors to stop leaving souvenirs given the site's environmental sensitivity. Fans were specifically asked not to leave socks on the grave because of the beach's protected status.
Key Facts
- The Greenlink interconnector cost £430m and links County Wexford in Ireland with Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire.
- The cable runs 190km and delivers 500MW of high-voltage direct current power, enough for roughly 380,000 homes.
- Project manager Simon Ludlam said his firm received hundreds of calls from Harry Potter fans after a broadcast interview revealed the original route.
- The project was completed and opened in April after the route was changed to avoid the Dobby tribute.
- The National Trust allowed the memorial to stay in place following a 2022 consultation, but asked visitors not to leave socks due to environmental concerns.
