£430m UK-Ireland power link rerouted after fans force to save Dobby's 'grave'

A multimillion-pound electricity interconnector between the UK and Ireland was rerouted after Harry Potter fans raised concerns that it could disturb a memorial to Dobby the House Elf, a fictional character from the series.

The details were reported by the BBC, which quoted project manager Simon Ludlam as saying the £430 million Greenlink interconnector was initially planned to pass close to the tribute at Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, where Dobby's death scene was filmed.

The 125-mile undersea and underground link connects Ireland with the UK's National Grid, running between County Wexford in Ireland and Freshwater West.

Ludlam, founder of Etchea Energy, said the project faced an unexpected backlash after fans learned that the cable route could affect the unofficial memorial.

Speaking on the Energy Revolution podcast, he said the cable was originally "going to go straight through" the tribute before the company began receiving "hundreds of calls".

Ludlam said the issue arose after a BBC News interview about the project. During filming, he indicated where the cable would be routed underground.

"We did the shot, we finished, I went back to London, and they then aired it a couple of weeks later," he said.

"And we got hundreds of calls, I mean hundreds of calls."

He said a colleague later explained the reason for the calls.

"Apparently we're going to go straight through Dobby's grave," the colleague told him.

Ludlam said he initially did not understand the concern.

"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?'"

His colleague replied, "No, it's very, very serious".

Ludlam said the project team subsequently worked with planners to identify an alternative route.

He said he discussed "exactly how to reroute the cable so we wouldn't go anywhere close to Dobby's grave".

"A lot of people were very happy about that, and the project is now going [ahead] and Dobby's happy," he added.

The cable's revised route also passed close to archaeological remains identified as potentially dating back to the Bronze Age.

Planning documents from Pembrokeshire Council said archaeological trenches near the underground cable route contained "the rim of an inverted pottery vessel whose fabric suggests a Bronze Age collared urn circa 1700-1500BC, typically associated with human burial".

Dobby's unofficial memorial has previously attracted attention from both fans and conservation authorities.

In 2022, the National Trust agreed to allow the memorial to remain after a public consultation, but asked visitors not to leave souvenirs at the site.

Fans had particularly been urged not to leave socks at the mock grave, which consists of pebbles bearing handwritten messages, because Freshwater West is an environmentally sensitive beach.