Harry Potter and the chamber of Dobby's 'grave': Fans force diversion of £430m cable route to save movie landmark
The beloved character was laid to rest on Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter fans have forced a new multimillion-pound power link between the UK and Ireland to be diverted after they complained it would disturb the “grave” of Dobby, a fictional elf.
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The beloved Harry Potter character was laid to rest on Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The spot has since become a fan memorial, with visitors leaving painted pebbles and messages despite warnings from the National Trust that the beach is environmentally sensitive.
The Greenlink interconnector, linking the National Grid with Ireland, was originally planned to run through the site, project manager Simon Ludlam said.
Fans discovered the proposed route after Mr Ludlam identified Freshwater West as the location where the 125-mile (200 km) cable to County Wexford would come ashore and be buried underground during a television interview.
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“After the piece aired a couple of weeks later, we got hundreds of calls - I mean, hundreds,” he said.
The company then brought in planners to find an alternative route, avoiding the spot believed by fans to be Dobby’s grave.
"A lot of people were very happy about that,” Mr Ludlam said.
“The project is now going ahead - and Dobby’s happy.
In the end, the revised route came “quite close to some real Bronze Age remains”, Mr Ludlam added, “but we avoided Dobby’s grave”.
Pembrokeshire Council planning documents for the power link said archaeological trenches near the revised underground cable route uncovered the rim of an inverted pottery vessel.
Its material suggested it was a Bronze Age collared urn, dating from around 1700 to 1500 BC - a type typically linked to human burials.
It is not the first time Dobby’s grave has faced being moved.
The pebble memorial was previously under threat over concerns about visitor numbers, pollution and damage to the environmentally sensitive beach.
Fans were urged not to leave socks, trinkets or painted stones at the mock grave - a reference to the house-elf being freed when given a sock.
In October 2022, National Trust Wales launched a consultation into whether the memorial should be relocated.
It later concluded it could remain “in the immediate term”.
The Trust said: “Based on the consultation results, the memorial to Dobby will remain at Freshwater West in the immediate term for people to enjoy.”
But it warned visitors to “only take photos”, saying discarded socks, trinkets and paint chips from pebbles could enter the sea and food chain, putting wildlife at risk.