Property Developers are Ruining Virginia Woolf’s Lighthouse

Photo via Steve Fareham

From the column ‘A Vice Guide To Right Now’

The lighthouse that inspired Virginia Woolf’s classic modernist novel ‘To The Lighthouse’ may soon be obscured from view, if developers have their way.

As a child, Woolf used to spend her summers looking out at Godevry lighthouse from her family holiday home in Talland House, St Ives. She used this experience to write her 1927 experimental masterpiece ‘To The Lighthouse’.

Until now, Woolf’s legacy has been kept safe from gentrification. But this might soon be about to change. According to The Independent, the most famous literary lighthouse in history could be blocked from public view after the local council gave permission for developers to build a block of apartments in the bay.

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The decision has been met with opposition from literary campaigners and members of Woolf’s family. Speaking to The Independent, Professor Maggie Humm said: “This view from Talland House was the focus of Woolf’s novel and visitors from around the world come to St Ives specifically to view a key part of the town’s history, heritage and beauty.”

A frequent commentator on social issues, Woolf’s most famous essay, “A Room Of One’s Own”, talked about the importance of affordable social housing for women. The Porthminster Beach View Ltd has been granted permission to build the block of flats as long as they pay the council £136,000, in lieu of building affordable housing.