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Harry Potter fans prompt reroute of UK‑Ireland undersea cable over Dobby burial site

booksAug 11, 2026547,232

Harry Potter fans prompted planners to reroute the £430 million Greenlink interconnector after objections that its original path would cut through the Dobby 'grave' on Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire. Project manager Simon Ludlam said the planned 125-mile (200 km) cable to County Wexford was shown on a BBC interview, triggering "hundreds of calls" from people worried about the fictional elf's burial site. Ludlam said he did not know who Dobby was and described colleagues explaining the concern before the firm enlisted planners to find an alternative route. The company adjusted the route to avoid the Dobby memorial while still taking the line close to real Bronze Age remains at the site. The Bronze Age remains include urns associated with human burial. Ludlam said the project is now going ahead with the revised route and that "Dobby's happy."

Faine Greenwood
@faineg.bsky.social

my own relationship with Harry Potter is, I think, bog-standard for a median-age millennial: I enjoyed the books just fine when I was an actual child, and I retained fairly pleasant memories about them until it was revealed that JK Rowling is a repulsive person

2112h ago
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