It brings me extreme displeasure to announce Dobby the house-elf, a fictional character who carked it in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, has a grave on a Welsh beach where his death scene was filmed. And people leave socks and pebbles with messages like “RIP Dobby” and “Free Dobby!” written on them, which they are now being asked not to do because it is polluting the beach.
There’s a lot to unpack here. I don’t know where to start, so let’s begin by unravelling the facts.
The beach grave situation started after the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 was released in 2010 ‘cos stans decided to trek to Freshwater West beach — where Dobby met his sandy death — and pay their respects to the elf. As already established, such respects were paid by way of socks and pebbles, as well as movie memorabilia and wooden crucifixes.
I feel like now would be an appropriate time to examine some photos of Dobby’s grave.
Went for a walk along Freshwater West and found this memorial to Dobby the house-elf, complete with dozens of lovingly placed socks pic.twitter.com/iSRObQmtVU
— Megan Rebekah, ghost girl respector (@_meggybread) May 9, 2021
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I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum but it’s got to be said: it’s a bit extra, isn’t it? I’ve looked it up on Google Maps and Freshwater West beach is about a two hour drive from Cardiff, the capital of Wales. In the grand scheme of things that’s not a prohibitively long car ride, and I understand when you’re on holiday you get a bit excited and logistics go out the window.
However, I would argue it’s a bloody long way to drive to mourn a fictional elf who died 12 years ago.
There’s also the possibility, and correct me if I’m wrong, that it’s a terrible idea to leave socks and pebbles with paint and permanent marker unattended on a beach. This point is even more important considering Freshwater West is part of a legally-protected area; it’s classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a European Designations of Special Protection Area and a Special Area of Conservation.
According to the National Trust Cymru — which is responsible for the beach’s conservation — so many people are heading to Freshwater West that it’s fucking the beach’s shit up.
“The ‘assets’, and a range of factors (including post-COVID trends) have led to a significant increase in visitors coming to Freshwater West, which has meant that visitor pressure exceeds capacity at peak times, resulting in major traffic congestion,” the Trust said, per its website.
“It is clear that the sheer numbers of visitors is also impacting on the environmental qualities and sensitive nature of Freshwater West. ”
National Trust Cymru assistant director of operations Jonathan Hughes said in a press release that about 75,000 people visited Freshwater West’s car park annually — way more than the poor ol’ beach can handle.
Freshwater West beach is also home to large grey seals, harbour porpoises, lizards and heaps of seabirds. We don’t want them ingesting peculiarly coloured pebbles and socks, do we!
To address the fact folks are inadvertently damaging an environmentally-sensitive and protected conservation area by memorialising a fictional elf, the Trust decided to hold a long-ass eight-month consultation to see how it could better preserve Freshwater West.
Nearly 5000 folks were surveyed about whether Dobby’s grave should be scrapped or moved to another location. The results are in, and the people decided the house-elf shrine can stay — but they’ve got to abide by the Trust’s rules.
“The memorial to Dobby will remain at Freshwater West in the immediate term for people to enjoy,” the Trust said in a press release.
“The Trust is asking visitors to only take photos when visiting the memorial to help protect the wider landscape.
“Items like socks, trinkets, and paint chips from painted pebbles could enter the marine environment and food chain and put wildlife at risk.”
Honestly, it’s valid. If it were up to me everyone would be asked to read another book, move on and stop trying to turn him into the fictional house-elf equivalent of Princess Diana.
