[Vwoolf] Saving the Talland House view of the Godrevy Lighthouse for Woolf's To the Lighthouse

[Neverow, Vara S.]

Dear friends,

An urgent request!!!

I am writing regarding a pending decision by the Cornwall Council Planning Committee as indicated below. Kristin Czarnecki, Paula Maggio, and Maggie Humm have all weighted in on the very threatening plan.

Your voice could be a deciding factor in a current plan that would block the view from Talland House in St. Ives.

If you are sharing our concerns, please contact the Cornwall Council Planning Committe<mailto:planning at cornwall.gov.uk>e regarding application PA15/04337<http://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NO1CS3FGJC300>, which would block the view from Talland House permanently with the installation of a block of six flats and a car park.

To reiterate, share your views with the committee via your opinions regarding application PA15/04337<http://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NO1CS3FGJC300> before July 14.

Feel free to use Paula Maggio and Kristin Carznecki’s letter modified it as necessary (see attachment) or my own letter (also below after Paula and Kristin’s comments).

The looming decision—July 14—looms ahead. Speak out!!!

>From Paula and Kristin:

Dear Fellow Woolfians:

I am sending this email on behalf of Kristin Czarnecki, IVWS president, who is traveling and does not have a computer available.

Kristin has sent the letter copied below to the Cornwall Council Planning Committee to protest the proposed construction of a block of six flats that will eradicate the view Virginia Woolf had from Talland House. We invite you to use any portion of the letter below to craft your own message to the committee to object to this plan that will destroy a vital piece of literary history.

Please send your email to the committee before Tuesday, July 14, 2015, as that is the date the committee is expected to act on the plan. Send it to planning at cornwall.gov.uk<mailto:planning at cornwall.gov.uk> We were not able to locate the number of the application for the plan, but please don't let that dissuade you from using your voice.

You may also want to consider posting a message on the Cornwall Council Facebook page (at https://www.facebook.com/forCornwall?fref=ts), and/or tweeting a message to the Council @CornwallCouncil

For more information, visit this post on Blogging Woolf: https://bloggingwoolf.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/view-from-talland-house-threatened-by-planned-development/

Dear Cornwall Council Planning Committee:

The view Virginia Woolf had of the Cornish coast is under threat by the proposed construction of a block of six flats and a car park near Talland House in St. Ives. This view of St Ives from Talland House is an important piece of literary history, one that the Cornwall Council and the St. Ives Town Council should work to preserve, not destroy.

When Woolf scholars and readers from around the world visit St. Ives, they come to walk the streets she walked and see the views she saw during her lifetime. When they come, they bring tourist dollars with them. The Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf will be held in England in 2016 and 2017, and many scholars and common readers are expected to arrive early or stay on so they can visit St. Ives, hoping to again see the town as Woolf did -- and to explore the surrounding Cornwall area.

The views themselves are an important part of the inherent beauty of the charming town of St. Ives and are a vital part of the town's literary history. It is important that these views be preserved for future scholars and readers, as they lend understanding to Woolf's life and work, particularly her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse.

The view from Talland House has inspired new scholarship and allowed new insights into Woolf's work. When those of us who teach share those views and those insights with our students, they are impressed by the beauty of St. Ives and are eager to develop their own insights into the novel and plan their own trips to Cornwall.

On July 14, 2015, when you consider the May 8, 2015, planning application submitted by Porthminster Beach View Ltd., please vote no. You will be preserving a vital piece of literary history that will continue to bring tourist dollars into your community.

Best regards,

Kristin Czarnecki
President, International Virginia Woolf Society
Paula Maggio
Social Media Coordinator, International Virginia Woolf Society

>From Vara Neverow,  Regarding application PA15/04337 submitted by Porthminster Beach View Ltd.

Dear Cornwall Council Planning Committee<mailto:planning at cornwall.gov.uk>:

I am writing in regard to application PA15/04337<http://planning.cornwall.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NO1CS3FGJC300>, which proposes construction of a block of flats and a car park that will block the view of the Godrevy Lighthouse from Talland House where the internationally revered author Virginia Woolf and her family resided during the summers from her infancy in 1882 until 1894, the year before her mother’s death.

These exquisitely beautiful summers in St. Ives shaped Woolf’s creative expression and was especially influential in To the Lighthouse, her 1927 masterpiece, which is one of her most famous and cherished novels. Much of the novel's beauty and intensity is derived directly from the author's own keen sense of place in St. Ives and her vivid memories of the glorious view of the lighthouse and the bay seen from the exact spot where Talland House still stands.

For Woolfians and other literary fans to be able see to the lighthouse itself from where Woolf herself did is an epiphany, a revelation, and a truly priceless experience. The proposed construction plan directly threatens this iconic view of the lighthouse. Preserving this stunning view of the lighthouse and the bay intact for future generations of visitors is paramount given that literary travels in the United Kingdom are source of significant revenue. However, protecting such sites is a critical not just for the tourist business but for the integral history of St. Ives itself.

Just as hundreds of fans of the Brontës make their pilgrimages to Haworth yearly, so too hundreds of Woolf scholars and readers visit St. Ives to see Talland House, to view the lighthouse from that precise location, to understand what shaped Woolf’s vision of the place, to explore the environment of St. Ives itself and to experience this intensely beautiful setting of her childhood.

In 2016 and 2017, Woolf scholars from around the world will be gathering at the Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, held next year in Leeds and the following year in Reading. Many are already planning their trips, which will certainly include visits to St. Ives. Further, in 2018, the conference is expected to be held in Paris, and once again, many of the participants will travel to the UK and to St. Ives.

On behalf of multitudes of Woolfians and other literary pilgrims, I entreat you to honor preservation over development. When on 14 July 2015, you consider the planning application from 8 May 2015 submitted by Porthminster Beach View Ltd., please vote no and thereby protect the literary, cultural and historical heritage of St. Ives for generations to come.

Thank you for considering this appeal.

Sincerely,

Vara Neverow

Past President, International Virginia Woolf Society
Editor, Virginia Woolf Miscellany
Professor, English and Women’s Studies
Southern Connecticut State University


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