The Potter Discussion: Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and the Wizarding World Fandom

Designing the Perfect Harry Potter Filming Location Tour!

December 11, 2022 Sound Owl Media
The Potter Discussion: Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and the Wizarding World Fandom
Designing the Perfect Harry Potter Filming Location Tour!
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

In this episode, we design the perfect Harry Potter filming location tour. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
·     This idea comes from a listener. Thank you! You can suggest your ideas in here.

·     You can listen to episode 138 here.

·     2:38 Durham Castle. This was the site of the famous slug vomiting scene as well as McGonagall’s classroom. My priority would be to act out the slug scene and try to transfigure some objects. This was a smart choice to film at because this castle is very much like Hogwarts and aids in the imagery for the story. 

·     8:14 Oxford. The library, the hospital wing, the ferret scene, and the first years walking up the staircase was all filmed at Oxford. The filmmakers walked around Oxford to get inspiration for the films! That’s how like Hogwarts is. The architecture is so old, it was built around the same as time Hogwarts.

·     16:55 Leadenhall Market. Leadenhall Market was the inspiration for J. K. Rowling’s Diagon Ally. I would be happy to spend an afternoon with a pastry and warm drink at Leadenhall Market, enjoying the aroma of Harry Potter.

·     19:13 King’s Cross. King’s Cross plays a huge role in the story as the jump off point from London to Hogwarts. We see the station in close to every film and is an important place for wizards and muggles. I would love to push a trolly through the wall and take a ride on the Hogwarts Express.

·     22:52 Gloucester Cathedral. Many corridor scenes were filmed in the Gloucester Cathedral. This cathedral is almost 1000 years old. Some electricity was put into the cathedral, so the filmmakers had to cover up the more modern elements with stone columns and brasiers.

·     26:16 Shell Cottage. Shell Cottage was used in the Deathly Hallows films. It would be lovely to spend a day at the beach with food, drink, and Harry Potter books in hand, watching the sea and enjoying the sights.

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VO:
Welcome to the Potter discussion.

Oscar:
Welcome back to the Potter discussion discussing Harry Potter fantastic beast in the wizarding world fandom. I'm your host, Oscar, and this is episode 160. Thank you all for joining me today. Again, it is a political leisure, of course, to be recording today. We are designing the perfect Harry Potter filming location tour. This episode was suggested to me by a listener who entered the topic suggestion form in the Show Notes. You can click that link and on the topic suggestion form on the Potter Discussion comcontact. If you want to submit any ideas which will likely be featured on the show, you can absolutely click those two links and enter your idea completely for free. So make sure you do that, because I would love to hear what you want to hear about. But yes, today we are talking about filming locations around England and Scotland for Harry Potter. And there are a couple of good ones. I did try to steer clear of places that I went. So this is not a Oxford and Lake off the Harry Potter studio riddled episode. I couldn't hold back completely. But of the few things that may be repeated, they're pretty awesome. And I'll be brief, I promise. So this is not a carbon copy of episode 138, which where I went over my entire Harry Potter experience in in the UK. So but if you do want to want to listen to that episode, that is the longest episode of the Potter discussion to date, episode 138. That will be the first link in the Show Notes below because that is a good one. I really love that episode. I was sitting there for so long, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed making that episode. And that's partly why I also wanted to make this with the suggestion from the listener and the time was right. It just felt like it's how I went ahead and wrote this episode. And here we are. So that episode of 138, where I went over my experience in Lacock and Oxford and the Harry Potter studios in Leviston, that episode will be in the Show Notes. But we've got a new set of Harry Potter family locations, some pretty popular ones. I'm going to be talking about them, talking about what I would do, how long I would spend there. So this is going to be a very fun episode. So let's get into today's episode. Our first stop on the list is Durham Castle in the wonderful city of Durham, England. So this is a pretty popular place to go for tourists, but we're going to be going for the Harry Potter element of it. So this is where McGonagall's class was filmed. This is where they turned the birds into glasses and transfiguring all the rats. And this is where that whole array of events took place. And when Harry and Ron were running bursting into the door, they were late in their first year and McGonigal transfigured into a cat in front of their eyes and they were amazed. This is exactly where that took place. This is also where the slug vomiting took place, which I mean is probably the more notable of the two. So that is Durham castle. And here's just some quick background. So Durham castle is a Norman castle? Of course in Durham. It's been occupied since 1837 by University College Durham, after his previous role as the residence of the Bishop of Durham. A lot of Durham through that. Thank you, Wikipedia. That page will be linked in the show notes as I will give some background with all of these locations, so you can find the links for every article that I reference in the show notes. So that's just some background on Durham Castle. So let's get into the good stuff. What would I do at Durham Castle? Well, I think the bare bones of it, there weren't many scenes here, so I can't really do too much. But I think the two main things I would do were, one, I would absolutely act out the slug scene. I would find the exact place, I would pull up my film watching device and see exactly where Rupert Grint was while filming. And of course, I have to act the whole thing out. I've got to do like the blood, blood, and then my wand eat slug. I have to do that whole thing and of course, do a similar thing with Professor McGonagall's classroom. I've got to go into her class and try to transfigure some stuff. It may not work out very well, but I am absolutely going to try and I think that would be very fun. I really enjoyed those scenes, which is why I put this one on the list. I think they're really important scenes, kind of as beginning the whole story. And I think it really fits the vibe of Harry Potter, which is important. And I think especially in those early films, we really want to know kind of the gist of Hogwarts and embodying that in these different castles all around the UK, I think is very important. And I think choosing Durham Castle was not a mistake. It was not, oh, that's open, let's just go to it. I think it was very deliberate that this kind of vibe, that this kind of aesthetic of Harry Potter, of Hogwarts is in existence in other places around the world. And I think that's why this place was chosen to be a filming location, because it really helps us with the vision of Harry Potter. I think that is very important, that is really integral to the filming and the storytelling, the imagery of the story. So I think that is a very smart choice, which I actually do very much like this scene in which her and Run are late, because, one, it is just a good scene in general. I think it adds the character and plot and all that kind of stuff. But it also took a lot to film. And we will absolutely talk about this in later locations. But that whole sequence was not just in Durham Castle. It was in a lot of different places, which we will get into, that for sure, because it is really fascinating when you really break it down. There's so many layers. It's a never ending. I mean, I wish I could have a phone call between Christopher Columbus and the first Ad. That would just be gold. To see how deeply they were planning everything and just how they would get everyone there. Of course, just filming anything and having it come out like the quality of Harry Potter is astounding in the first place. But I think especially with Harry Potter, with of course, unfortunately, Hogwarts is not a viable location to film. They have to make do and I think that just makes it so much harder, but so much more fascinating because they had to go. They had to be running around England. And of course, not to mention the actors. I think Reaper Grin and Daniel Radcliffe in this scene did a pretty good job because they really carried over their acting. And I am confident in saying that I don't think they ran from one location to the other, which we will absolutely get into later in this episode. So that is the first stop on our list. But there are many more places to go, so let's move on for this next location. I'm just ripping the bandaid off. I'm getting it over with early because there is no way to avoid it. I just want to say there is no way to avoid a Harry Potter filming location tour without Oxford. And I know I said this is not a repeat, I'm so sorry, but I had to put this in here and I am giving myself a pass on this one because it is not the previous location that I talked about. Because when I went to Oxford just this last summer, I kind of walked around the campus and I saw kind of the library and all that kind of stuff. But I did not see the actual filming locations. I did not see the hospital wing or the actual V library. I didn't see that. So that is why I'm giving myself a pass on this because I went to Oxford, but I did not see the actual fame locations and the actual film locations is what I'm talking about in this little section. So I'm giving myself a pass for that. I just want to get that out of the way. Okay, so Oxford, of course, Oxford is extraordinary. And if you've been there, you really understand that the vibe is real. I mean, going there and just experiencing the oldness and the history and just so many things. My tour guide was fantastic. I learned so much about Oxford. It is really an inspiring place, just based on the history and how much stuff is there. There's just, like, endless corridors and so many stories of celebrities and just historical events. It is just really, really cool. So I am very pleased that I got to see it in person. And if you're ever in town, if you're ever in town, absolutely go. And, of course, as promised, I will give you a little history about Oxford. Of course, I cannot do it as well as the tour guides, but I will absolutely try because it was really astounding. So, Oxford is located in Oxford. It is the country, town and city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, the population was estimated at about 150,000 people, which is pretty big. It is 56 miles northwest of London, 64 miles southeast of Birmingham and 61 miles northeast of Bristol. Of course, this city is home to the University of Oxford, which is the oldest university in the English speaking world. It has buildings in every style of English architecture since late Anglosaxon Oxford's. Industries include motor, manufacturing, education, publishing, information technology and science, which, of course, Oxford University is a hub to all of that. So we're talking about the history they're done with that part of it. But now we can get into the Harry Potter filming location element of this. And, I mean, I want to say I do the history of these places because I love the history of these places. So this is for me. I'm sorry. Just skip 30 seconds. But that's just for me. Okay, so that is a quick history. But now, filming locations, the most notable are the library, the Hogwarts Library and the hospital wing. Those were two places in which Oxford was utilized to be filmed at, and some staircases were also used, which is I think you'll see that on Instagram with people, like, running up the staircase, the picture, and then it shifts the film. That is the other filming location. But I think that's pretty self explanatory. But I will actually go into that. I would absolutely would have gone on that staircase, but the price is ridiculous and you have to book tickets months in advance. So absolutely not working for me, but I can still talk about it. So, first off, the library. The library, I mean, by itself, without the filming location, is just fascinating. They have so many different books and so many really famous people did their studying there in both English and not. I mean, the majority of students, I mean, the vast majority of students at Oxford are not from the UK. So it really does invite a worldwide collection and a universal style of studying. So it is a really, really fascinating place. Of course, with a place like Oxford University, there are just so many libraries, little ones, small. I mean, just from big to small, there's a library on every corner and book shops everywhere. I mean, black wells. I mean, there's so many different really cool places there to do with books. But besides the Hogwarts Library, another really cool library is the Radcliffe Library, which is the first circular library just ever. So that's pretty cool. But the Hogwarts Library is in Oxford and it really, really fits Hogwarts. I think if they just filmed Hogwarts at Oxford, no one would have known the difference. I mean, it is just like Harry Potter to the Max. The filmmakers used Oxford to make the films. They went to Oxford and they walked around and they went around and they took notes and they took pictures and that's what they based Hogwarts on. I mean, that's how Hogwarts esque it is. And I mean, it's not only Harry Potter. There's a lot of narnia CS. Lewis influence there. We saw the door that CS. Lewis was inspired by, by his characters. And we saw the lamppost. The lamppost that was still, you know, maintained since his time. And that inspired the lamppost scene in Narnia, which I don't know much about, but that was pretty cool. Oxford is a hub of filming locations and just really cool places. Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Oxford. See, I'm even getting them mixed up. See that? See how see how interchangeable two are similar? They are. It's ridiculous. But Oxford is also the home of the rat scene. Sorry, the ferret scene where Moody transfigures Drake go into a ferret and he runs away. That is Oxford. And like Harry kind of confronting Ron and that whole place is sad. Drake kind of sitting on the bench. So that is where that whole scene takes place. I mean, a really nice place, actually. But I learned a fun fact. They had to saw off the branch of the tree that Draco sat on because so many people came to that tree, sat on it and it was sagging it. The tree was not doing well, so they cut off the branch, but the courtyard still remains. And I mean, that section is highly used. So it is a famous place in Oxford just in general. So that is the kind of library and other staircases and the green and there's also the hospital wing. The hospital wing, I think I'm trying to think of there weren't a whole lot of scenes filmed there. I think mostly the first, second and third films was where the hospital wing was really featured. Did come back a bit in the half blood prints. But the hospital was definitely an important role, although it didn't appear a whole lot. But, yes, this is also where the hospitaling took place. And I'm not 100% sure what it's used for now, but it is absolutely a part of Oxford and it is used that you know for sure. So that is just kind of a general info on the hospital. And so that is the second female location on our list. But let's move on to the third. The next location on our list is a quick one, but a fascinating one nonetheless. So this talking point is about leading hall markets. And I did go here, as it happens, on my trip to the UK. And although I don't believe I talked about it or I didn't talk about it very much, so that's why I am including it in this episode, because it is not a repeat. I repeat, it is not a repeat. So leadenhall markets. This was a huge inspiration for Diagon Alley. This is a JK. Rowling inspiration for Diagon Alley. And it was also used to represent kind of the area of London near the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley in the first film. So some history. The foundings of the market dates back to the 14th century and kind of both. It was really getting going v the mayor, Simon Air, according to John Stowe. So Air was a draper and he built leadenhall for a common garner of corn for the use of London. So it's been around for a long time and it has some pretty interesting history. So London Hall Markets is the next thing that will quickly go over. So what I would do at Lenha Market, I mean, pretty simple, I think I would stop at a bakery. I would just get some maybe like a fresh bread, maybe pong chocolate, some delicious, something like nice creamy and buttery and just delicious. I would get a nice cup of hot chocolate and I would just sit down and I would enjoy I couldn't sit down and really absorb it in Hallmarket when I was walking through because I have a pretty jam packed day that day. I had a lot of stuff to do, so I couldn't really and just stop to smell the flowers. But I did walk through and spend a good amount of time there. So I definitely got the feel for the place. But I would definitely love to go back and just kind of sit down, enjoy the aroma. And of course, I would find a shop that looked like the Leaky Cauldron and I would walk into it because, of course, that's what Harry and Hager did. So that is what I would do in leadenhall markets. That is a very quick one, but let's move on. The next filming location on the list is the one, the only, King's Cross. Yes, King's Cross Station. Of course, we see this so much in the films and of course we had to pay a visit to Kings Cross. It is a vital part of many things in Harry Potter and it is a wonderful place to go and see, of course, the history. So King's Cross Station was built from 1851 to 52 as the London Terminus of the Great Northern Railway. And it was the fifth London terminal to be constructed. It replaced a temporary station next to a Maiden Lane. Now it's called York Way that had been quickly constructed with the line's arrival in London in 1850 and had opened on August 7, 1850. So the station took its name from the King's Cross Building, a monument to King George the Fourth that stood in the area that was later demolished. In 1845, construction was on a small smallpox hospital in the area. So there you have it. Quick history of King's Cross. But why is going to King's Cross? Well, kind of obvious. So much happens there. Like I said, Kings Cross is a huge part of filming and it is a huge undertaking to film that. It was a very impressive feat. Lots, lots, lots of different elements to sort that take place there. I think we see it in to be seen in every film, I think just about we see in every film. Times definitely vary, but taking Kings Cross is a huge element of the story. I was close to going to Kings Cross, but I had a couple of international trains to catch. So St. Pancras was my friend when I went to the UK. But Kings Cross I did see in the window, so that counts, I guess, but even from outside, it is a huge place and I mean huge arching ceilings. If St. Pancras is anything like Kings Cross, I mean, absolutely ginormous. I mean, hundreds of hundreds and hundreds of people just milling about, finding their train and rushing from this place to that place. And I saw the sign for platform nine and platform ten in St. Pancreas, which I mean close enough to platform nine and three quarters in Kings Cross. So I got the idea when I went in person. But King's Cross is definitely the place to be in King's Cross. Of course, I mean, the huge thing that I would do is I would be pushing so I think they put a trolley cart in between platforms nine and ten where you can hold on and push the trolley through the wall. So I would absolutely do that. I would ask an attendant where platform nine and three quarters is. I would do the whole bit and I would enjoy every minute of it. So that is what I would do at Kings Cross station. I would I mean, I would probably catch a train too. I mean, I guess that's kind of the point, but I don't I don't know where, like, where would I want to go? You know what? You know what I would do? I would catch a train to the next female location on this list. That's exactly what I do. And okay, that is too perfect a segue to ignore, so we might as well just get straight into the next one. After King's Cross, I would go to the Gloucester cathedral. This was the filming location that I was talking about earlier, in which Harry and Ron were running down the hallway and burst into Professor McGonagall's classroom. They were in the Gloucester Cathedral, running down the hall, running down the hall. Then they burst through the door and they were enduring castle. I think they maybe had an Oxford a couple of seconds in there too. So it was a huge operation film that scene. But I cannot give a whole comprehensive history of the Gloucester Cathedral in this. But the barrier bones of it, it was rebuilt in 1050 and pretty much became a cathedral from then on and I mean rebuilt in 1050. So it's pretty old. So that gives you any idea just how much this cathedral has lived through that should so the Gloucester Cathedral, I think this is just fascinating. There is a 1000 year old cathedral on every market. You see the Marks and Spencer food hall and then you pass like a pub and then there's a, you know, 2000 old 2000 year old cathedral and then there's the library and then there's your, like, friend like, you like it is just very common for these things. I probably saw five or six different cathedrals on my trip and it was every single one I went into was just amazing. The ceilings were so high once I think it was in the Southwark Cathedral. I saw the boys choir practicing, which is just amazing. I mean, the acoustics coming from me, a podcast and the acoustics were so good. It was great. They had really wonderful voices and it was really, really amazing. I only caught the end of it but for like the five or six minutes that I heard it was just really, really cool. And in as it happens, in the southward of the little courtyard outside there's a statue of William Shakespeare. So I sat with Shakespeare for a while. That was cool. But that was just goes to show just how cool these cathedrals are. And the Glossary Cathedral is, of course, very famous. And Harry and Ron had a wonderful time running. Den and I am sure a cool little fact about the filmmaking of Harry Potter at the Glossary Cathedral was they had to hide a lot of modern elements, because it is not they have to put in some kind of electricity or something like that to keep the cathedral fit for use. So they do have electrical panels and lights and stuff like that in the cathedral. So the filmmakers had to COVID them up with like stone walls and different like a chandelier here and there and like a brazier. So they have to be pretty creative with that. So the glass of cathedral, I think the main thing I would do there is I would just run down the hall. Honestly, I would just embody my lateness for class. I would run down the hall and unfortunately, I can't burst into McGonagall's office from the hallway in the Glossary Cathedral. I will certainly try. I will burst into another room and pretend that that is McGonagall's classroom just to get the true feel for the whole scene. So that is the Gloucester cathedral. And I think we have time for one more female location on this list. So let's move on. The final destination on our amazing Harry Potter Family Locations tour is a wonderful beach in Wales. In Pembrokeshire, Wales, we find Shell Cottage. Shell Cottage was used in Harry Potter and the Deathly Howls Part One. And in the beginning of part two, this is where Bull and Fleur set up camp and where they had their time together. And of course, there's no history for Shell Cottage as it is a Harry Potter location, but we can all imagine history in our heads. So this is a really beautiful place. If you look up some pictures for it, you can see these beaches are just really, really beautiful. And I mean, blue skies, blue waters. It looks a bit like France, actually, especially Normandy. The Falaz detre ta. I was noticing the Elephant Rock in Normandy. There was a picture that looked exactly like it. It was really strange. So French influence, I'm sure, and a really great place to go. This is one place I've not been and I really want to go. I have a feeling it's going to be a while but I'm certainly hoping that I can go to Pembrokeshire sometime in my life. So that is on the bucket list. But here they did build Shell Cottage. I mean, it is there, we can see it now. I think what I would do is just spend a day at the beach. I would do all the hairy things because essentially what they do is they just spend time there. Unfortunately, I cannot find a house elf and kind of wait for it to death. That would be kind of cruel. And also I don't think I could find a household and unfortunately I don't think I could talk to Grip Hook about the plans for breaking into Grincats. But I can certainly spend the day at the beach, so that's what I'm going to do. So I think that's definitely a good plan for Pembrokeshire. I would spend the day at the beach. I would get a bunch of delicious food and drink and bunch of good books and I would just sit down and not get up until the sun went down. That is a wonderfully, lovely day. I would walk around the town a little bit too, so I would meet some people and stuff like that. That would be a very lovely day in Pembrokeshire. So that is my day in Pembrokeshire and that's the tour. I have so much more written down and definitely it is too bad that I couldn't get to it, but if it gives you any idea, I wrote Harry Potter studio in all caps. I made myself put that last because of course I write about it so much, but of course I had to include it even if I didn't talk about it, which I'm not going to talk about it. It feels like there's a contractual obligation to include that. So it's too bad that I cannot get you every single thing on my list. But I hope you will get the idea and you enjoyed this episode. Thank you, dear listener, for submitting that idea. I very much appreciate it. If you want to submit your idea to the show, you can go to the Potter discussion. Comcontact and enter your idea in the contact form over on that site. You can also use the contact form inform of a Google form, which is linked in the show notes as well. Thank you all for joining me today. And as always, remember that happiness can be found even in the dark, just the times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. I will see you later.

VO:
This was The Potter Discussion.


Intro
Durham Castle
Oxford
Leadenhall Market
King's Cross
Gloucester Cathedral
Shell Cottage