A multimillion-dollar power link between the United Kingdom and Ireland has been diverted after distraught “Harry Potter” fans pointed out that its planned route would cut through a beach memorial dedicated to a beloved character from the series, Dobby the house-elf.
The £430 million (around $580 million) Greenlink interconnector links the UK’s National Grid power transmission network to Ireland via a 125-mile cable between Ireland’s County Wexford on the southeast coast and Freshwater West, a beach in Wales’ southwest, where the death of Dobby was filmed for the movie franchise.
Originally, the undersea cable—designed to share excess renewable energy, boost security, and double electricity transfer capacity—would have disturbed the symbolic grave where fans leave handwritten tributes on pebbles. After a BBC News interview about the operation, a torrent of concerned calls caused Simon Ludlam, CEO of project manager Etchea Energy, to rethink the route, as he revealed to the Energy Revolution podcast.
“We got hundreds of calls; I mean, hundreds of calls,” he said. Ludlam admitted the initial uproar puzzled him. A colleague told him that “apparently, we’re going to go straight through Dobby’s grave.” This meant little to Ludlam, who found himself saying, “Dobby, who’s Dobby? I don’t know Dobby?”
Even after his colleague explained, Ludlam remained confused. He told the podcast: “I said, ‘He’s a fictitious character in a fictitious book, the whole thing is fictitious, what are you talking about?’” It was only when his colleague insisted, “No, it’s very, very serious,” that Ludlam grasped the gravity of the situation. His team then rerouted the cable to avoid the site entirely.
“A lot of people were very happy about that, and the project is now going ahead and Dobby’s happy,” Ludlam joked. Jack Nicholas is one of those relieved that Ludlam took the matter seriously. Local to Pembrokeshire, Nicholas, 20, highlights the area through online videos. “Dobby’s Grave brings tourists from all around the world down to one of Pembrokeshire’s most impressive beaches,” Nicholas told. “The memorial has rocks from places such as Italy, Australia and South Africa, showing how far people travel to see it.”
Tourism in Pembrokeshire contributes an estimated £604 million (roughly $815 million) to the local economy, with more than 6 million visitors supporting 23% of all local employment, according to Pembrokeshire County Council. Sophie Pearce, a Welsh travel blogger, noted the site’s significance. “Dobby’s Grave is a bittersweet place to visit for Potterheads as it’s where he spent his last heroic moments among friends,” Pearce explained. “It would be a shame to destroy it.”
However, the repositioning is not without issue, Ludlam noted, as the cable now comes “quite close” to Bronze Age remains. This is not the first time fans have protected the grave, which appeared after the 2010 release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.” In 2022, the National Trust, which owns the land, agreed it could remain following a consultation but warned fans against leaving souvenirs. has reached out to Greenlink Ireland and Etchea Energy for further comment. The report also notes that (The “Harry Potter” movie franchise is owned by Warner Bros., a unit of parent company, Warner Bros. The report also notes that sophie Pearce is a Welsh travel blogger who has visited Egypt, India and New Zealand on a quest to see magical, historic and bookish destinations. The report also notes that however, she discovered she didn’t have to travel very far at all to find a touch of whimsy, during the pandemic. The report also notes that “There are all sorts of painted rocks with sweet messages left for Dobby. The report also notes that and it never fails to fill me with wonder,” she added, i’ve been back many times since my first visit. The report also notes that like all house-elves, was bound by magic to serve a wizarding family forever, or at least until a master presents them with an article of clothing, granting the elf freedom, pilgrims to the site were in the habit of leaving a sock to honor the house-elf who. The report also notes that visitors were urged to refrain from leaving socks because the beach was environmentally sensitive. The report also notes that zoe Sottile contributed to this report.