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Harry’s HangoutsWhy Don’t You Potter around Britain?By Barbara BallardThe popularity of JK Rowlings's Harry Potter books makes them the biggest selling series of children's books in history. The series of books follow the exploits of an 11 year old boy, Harry, who learns that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his ordinary life with his aunt and uncle to become a student at Hogwarts, a boarding school for wizards. There, he meets others like him and makes new friends who help him conquer the powerful figure who was responsible for his parent’s death. Turning the pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, we’ve all immersed ourselves in the book’s adventures and even imagined ourselves at the Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While we may not be able to attend the school we can follow a Harry Potter trail when visiting England. It starts with the house where Harry lives: Number 4, Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey, home of the Dursleys—Harry’s aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley. Number 4 is actually a middle class suburban home in an ordinary neighbourhood, Picket Post Close in Martin’s Heron near Bracknell, Berkshire.
Filmgoers may recognize the Hogsmeade train station where Harry arrives at the school. It is the station for the village of Goathland in the Yorkshire Moors, already well known from the TV series, Heartbeat that has run on the Knowledge Network for several years. The station sits at the bottom of a quite steep hill with a path leading up to the village itself. The steam engine used in the filming is now in service at the Severn Valley Railway in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Gringott’s Wizarding Bank, run by goblins, is actually Australia House, a former building of the Australian High Commission, located on the Strand, London, and now a National Trust property. A marble surround, gothic marble columns, and a marble floor are the perfect setting for the below-ground bank vaults that provide a secure place to keep valuables. Another London location was London Zoo’s Reptile House. Early in the book, Harry goes to the zoo and speaks to a snake that escapes and terrorizes his cousin, Dudley.
The well-known Bodleian Library in Oxford served as another setting. The library is actually a number of buildings spread throughout the city, but its historic core located at Radcliffe Square was of interest to the filmmakers. One of the oldest parts, the Divinity School dating to1613, was used in the filming. Its vaulted ceiling is regarded as a masterpiece of English Gothic architecture.
Filmed on located in Britain, the settings for the Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone™, in the US: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™) make for an interesting journey for all Potter fans, young and old. Travel InformationOxford Goathland
village and train station Gloucester Cathedral Lacock Abbey Bracknell ©2002 Reproduction of this work (including photographs) in whole or in part, and including reproduction in electronic media, without the expressed permission of the author is prohibited. All photos courtesy of and copyrighted by British Tourist Association. |
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The well known London Underground, a subway system, is where
Harry catches the steam train, the Hogwart Express, to the school for
wizards. The train leaves from Platform 9¾, and Harry catches it by walking
into the barrier that links platforms 9 and 10. This scene was filmed at
platform 4 at King’s Cross Station in London, a busy and quite ordinary
train station. It was built in 1851 as the London terminus for the Great
Northern Railway.
Located in the city of
Gloucester, the stately Gloucester Cathedral choir and its 15th century
fan-vaulted cloisters are part and parcel of the film. Edward II was buried
here in 1327. Another cathedral, n the northern city of Durham, was used as
a backdrop in the film. Constructed in 995, Durham Cathedral is best known
as the resting place for the bones of St Cuthbert. Perched high on a hilltop
in a bend of the River Wear, it commands views over the countryside.
Lacock Abbey, a manor house created from an Augustinian nunnery
in 1539 is one of the film’s locations. Set in Lacock village in Wiltshire,
the home’s architecture is a mixture of the nunnery with its cloisters and
later Tudor additions. It was the home of William Fox-Talbot, one of the
inventors of photography. The entire village is protected by the National
Trust, and almost frozen in time.