Virginia Woolf scholars, fans, and locals have united to oppose building works threatening Talland House’s landmark literary view.
Talland House. Photograph: Polly Carter
Building work has commenced at the Chy an Porth site below the grade II listed Talland House. Planning permission was granted in 2009 for a block of 12 flats that threatens to destroy the view across St Ives bay to the lighthouse, made famous by literary icon Woolf.
Her father bought the lease to Talland in 1891, and the family — including the young Virginia Stephen — returned every summer until her mother’s death in 1895. Woolf later wrote passionately about Talland and St Ives in her memoirs, diaries and novels, most famously in To the Lighthouse (1927), which draws directly on her family summers there and centres around the iconic view from the house across the bay. The garden at Talland, and the same sweeping seascape, also feature prominently in Jacob’s Room (1922) and The Waves (1931).
In response to the unexpected construction of flats, which threaten to wipe out this landmark vista, heritage horticulturalist Polly Carter — who is developing the gardens at Talland House with plantings referenced in Woolf’s novels and memoirs — is working alongside the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain to mobilise Woolf fans worldwide. These include prominent scholars, authors, and artists, to campaign alongside local residents to safeguard the view from Talland House and seek revocation of the planning permission.
Cornwall Council’s online planning portal has since been flooded with impassioned comments from around the globe, urging the authority to protect this literary landmark.
In a Facebook post, Polly noted: “Cornwall Council have pushed the development application for amendments up to strategic planning. This overrides the deadline for decision by 6th February. Planners will now meet on 19th February to discuss the application.
“So, keep making noises, leaving comments on the portal, and write to MP for St Ives @andrewgeorge_cornwall to put pressure on Cornwall Council to use any means they have to object to the amendments and revoke the planning permission that falsely suggested that the Talland outlook would not be impacted.”
Owner of Talland House, Peter Eddy, said: “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.”
A tour of the gardens at Talland House during the St Ives September Festival. The famous view to the lighthouse at Godrevy is clearly visible. Photograph: Diana Skypala
In recent years, Polly Carter has transformed Talland House into a cultural hub for local visitors and international tourists alike, leading tours of the gardens for Woolf scholars, writers, readers, and historians, who travel to St Ives especially to see Talland house to deepen their understanding of Woolf’s life and work.
Polly highlights the impact these visits to Talland have had on visitors. “When visitors experience the place and unique topography that informed Woolf’s work, they are visibly moved. People who haven’t read Woolf are inspired to begin; people who tried but gave up return to it with renewed understanding; and people who study her work gain fresh insights to inform their research.”
BBC radio and European television companies have also visited the site in recent years to film the view when producing programmes about the iconic writer.
Next year marks the centenary of To the Lighthouse, and with it a renewed global interest in Talland House and its iconic view is expected. As readers, scholars, and visitors revisit the novel, the landscape that inspired Woolf’s writing — particularly the view across St Ives Bay to Godrevy lighthouse — is likely to attract unprecedented attention and demand.
Polly has already been approached by international artists eager to visit the site and create works in response to it. She said: “I am in the process of establishing a curatorial programme to expand opportunities for engagement with Talland in a way that still respects the privacy of its tenants. The view is an essential element that artists want to respond to — and this development will deprive them of that.”
