There is currently a campaign underway to save Conan Doyle’s house www.saveundershaw.com. This has the official support of the British Association for Victorian Studies, and has been endorsed by the North American Victorian Studies Association and the London 19th Century Seminar. The house is empty and is being allowed to deteriorate subject to planning permission to develop the site.
It is extraordinary that the fate of Undershaw should be decided by six borough councillors favouring a ‘development’ plan put together by a two-man company based in the British Virgin Islands ! What I am hoping for is something on the lines of a Conan Doyle Centre for British Crime Writing, with a library, conference facilities and perhaps a writer in residence.
I have been gathering academic support for this – ‘Academics for Undershaw’ – the list so far is attached – and I hope you will consider adding your own names (drop me a line) and/or putting a message on http://www.saveundershaw.com/2010/09/leave-your-feedback/. Apparently, the powers that be are reluctant to accept the idea that Undershaw can have any cultural value, and we must convince them otherwise.
Videos of the house, which dates to 1897, can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/SaveUndershaw.
