Turning my back on the view to look up at Talland House on a misty day in June of 2004.

Admirers of Virginia Woolf and protectors of her literary legacy are not giving up.

Yesterday, it seemed the legal cost of protecting the historic view of the Cornish coast and Godrevy Lighthouse from Talland House would prohibit any further action. Today, I share news from the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain that Polly Carter has set up a GoFundMe account to help protect that very view.

Carter, the National Trust certified gardener at Talland House in St. Ives, Cornwall, says that if the £1,400 target cannot be met, all donations will go toward creating a commemorative website with films and artworks celebrating the view for next year’s To the Lighthouse centenary events in St. Ives.

Launched on March 25, as of today the account has raised £701 — or 51 percent of its goal. Please support the effort and share it if you can by visiting the “Save the view from Virginia Woolf’s Talland House” GoFundMe campaign.

Why this new fundraising effort?

As Carter writes on the GoFundMe page:

“Unfortunately the development has just received permission from Cornwall Council to make amendments to a set of plans on a historical, 2009, planing permission. Legal advice that we took suggests that there is a legal challenge to how those amendments got attached to the permission. If we were able to challenge this at judicial review, there is a chance that the developer would not want to build the original plans and be put off. It is not a sure way of stopping the development but this is currently our only way of impacting any change on being able to resist the view disappearing.

“This is my last attempt at raising the the funds that the campaign group need. I realise that raising that much that quickly is unlikely and if we don’t reach the target and are unable to go to judicial review, any funds that are donated will go towards commissioning a website with commemorative films and artworks of the view/centenary celebrations of To The Lighthouse next year in St Ives.”

A judicial review could halt or deter the development, but the cost of initiating it is £20,000, and funds must be raised by Monday, March 30.

Why save the view?

Talland House is important to Woolf’s legacy for several reasons. It was the setting and inspiration for her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse. It was also where Woolf and her family spent their summers  until her mother, Julia Stephen, died in 1895, when Woolf was 13.

The house and its surroundings attract hundreds of visitors each year, drawn by its significance in Woolf’s life and its central role in To the Lighthouse. “The view from the house and garden is an essential part of this heritage setting and deeply connected to Woolf’s personal history, her writing, and the development of Modernism,” according to Carter.

What is the history of the development project?

Plans to obstruct the view are not new. Earlier plans for the construction of $3 million worth of flats near Talland House in 2003 sparked protests from Woolfians around the world, and the project did not proceed. Again, in 2015, Woolfians fought back against a six-flat version of the project that threatened the view of Godrevy, and the development was halted.

At that time, a local resident forwarded Blogging Woolf an email from English Heritage detailing a provision that could shut down the project. It said current legislation included a provision to “avoid harm to the setting of a listed building if it contributes to the significance of the building.”

Talland House is listed and considered Grade II, which means it is “nationally important and of special interest.”  The St. Ives resident cited National Planning Framework Section 12 paras. 128,9,132 and shared that information on the St. Ives Council’s comments page for the proposed development.

I do not know if Talland House’s recognition as “nationally important and of special interest” helped halt the development project in 2015 or not. But I think that status should be considered now, if it still applies.

Why is the view in jeopardy once more?

A screenshot of the planning document that shows the west and east elevations of the multi-story proposed development, which is called The Terrace St. Ives.

As described above, past efforts to block development plans that would obscure the viewfrom Talland House resulted in temporary delays.

Nevertheless, developers are at it again. Cornwall Council recently approved amendments to an old 2009 planning permission, and work has begun. This time, the new five-story development of 12 flats is set to completely block the view from Talland House.

This is the case despite legal advice suggesting there may be grounds to challenge this process — and despite posted objections from St. Ives residents and others around the globe. UK media, including the BBC, The Telegraph, and St. Ives Local, have also covered this developing story.

Peter Eddy, owner of Talland House, was quoted in St. Ives Local as saying:

​​In 2022, Talland House was formally recognised as a significant heritage property in Cornwall and awarded a black plaque by the Cornwall Heritage Trust. As guardians of Talland House, we are committed to preserving both the fabric of the building and the unique landscape that inspired one of literature’s most iconic works. To compromise or lose the view that shaped Virginia Woolf’s creative imagination would be a travesty for the literary world and a profound loss to Cornwall’s cultural heritage.

Polly Carter is restoring the Talland House garden now, but this was the view of a set of stone steps leading to a “Private” area of the garden in June of 2004.

 

Professor Maggie Humm, vice-chair of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, and Councillor Johnnie Wells, Deputy Mayor of St. Ives, at the Talland House plaque unveiling on Sept. 11, 2022. Photo: St. Ives September Festival