Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) filming locations
Film locations: London; Gloucestershire; Berkshire; Wiltshire; Yorkshire; Northumberland; Co Durham; Oxfordshire; Middlesex
Harry Potter location: Home of the dreadful Dursleys, ‘4 Privet Drive’: 12 Picket Post Close, Martins Heron, Berkshire
The first of the Harry Potter saga uses locations pieced together from sites across the length and breadth of the UK. For instance, although the elaborate exterior of ‘Hogwarts School’ is largely computer generated, scenes inside the school were filmed in at least six different locations, ranging from County Durham in the north of England to Wiltshire in the west.
We start out in Berkshire, where the house of the dreadful Dursleys, at ‘4 Privet Drive’, is 12 Picket Post Close, Martins Heron, (rail: Martins Heron, from London Waterloo), one rail stop away from Bracknell.
In London, it’s at the Reptile House of Regent’s Park Zoo, that Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) learns he can speak to snakes and liberates the boa constrictor (though what kind of life can it expect in Regents Park?).
A long-established film location, London Zoo can be seen in Carol Reed’s The Fallen Idol, The Jokers, Arabesque, Turtle Diary and An American Werewolf in London. The famous Penguin Pool can be seen in About a Boy, and its little-known Prince Albert Suite in British comedy Leon The Pig Farmer. The zoo’s entrance, on the Outer Circle, was transformed – with a little CGI – into the exterior of the All England Lawn Tennis Club for 2004 rom-com Wimbledon.
Harry Potter location: Harry talks to the serpent: Reptile House, Regent’s Park Zoo, London
The entrance to ‘The Leaky Cauldron’ was an empty shop, now an optician store – The Glass House, 42 Bull’s Head Passage in Leadenhall Market in the City of London (it’s just beneath the famous Lloyd’s Building).
The market itself has been a frequent film location. Within the market, The Lamb pub was the site of the raucous pub brawl in John Wayne's only English movie, Brannigan. More recently, Angelina Jolie zoomed through the arcade on her motorbike in Lara Croft – Tomb Raider, while Russell Crowe enjoyed a Chinese meal here in Proof of Life.
>Harry Potter location: The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron: Bull’s Head Passage, Leadenhall Market, London
The crazily angled exterior of ‘Gringott’s Bank’ is obviously a set, but the interior is the imposing Exhibition Hall of Australia House, with its chandeliers and Australian marble columns. It’s not generally open to the public but there are daily tours. Find it at the eastern end of the traffic island where Aldwych meets the Strand.
The Hogwarts Express supposedly departs from ‘Platform 9 3/4‘ of King’s Cross Station, which is actually the arched wall between Platforms 4 and 5. Don't go running into that wall, now. Trust me, it doesn't work.
North to Yorkshire, where ‘Hogsmeade Station’ is Goathland Station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. And this is where it starts to get complicated.
‘Hogwarts’ itself is a dizzying assembly of different locations. The richly-vaulted cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, down in the southwest of England, became the corridors leading to ‘Gryffindor House’, where the lady in the oil painting asks for the password.
The cloisters of Durham Cathedral, in the northeast, became the snowy quadrangle of ‘Hogwarts’, where Harry sets the owl flying.
Back south (I told you it was complicated), to Lacock Abbey, a Gothicised 13th century abbey in Lacock, three miles south of Chippenham in Wiltshire, which supplied many of the classrooms. The Sacristy became Professor Snape’s Potions Class: “How to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death”. The Warming Room – which really does contain a genuine cauldron – is Professor Quirrell’s Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and it’s in the Chapter House that Harry stumbles upon the miraculous Mirror of Erised.
Harry Potter location: "Hogwarts’ classrooms: Lacock Abbey, Lacock, Wiltshire
The house, home of the Talbot family, including the Medieval cloisters seen in the movie, is open daily (except Tuesday) from the beginning of April to the end of October. You can see it also the 1958 Civil War melodrama The Moonraker.
Harry Potter location: Another ‘Hogwarts’ location: Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
The Outer Bailey of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland (seen also in Disney’s The Spaceman and King Arthur), is the site of Madame Hooch’s flying lessen.
Harry Potter location: Professor Flitwick’s class: Harrow Old Schools, Harrow-on-the-Hill
Professor Flitwick’s Charms Class, where Hermione (Emma Watson) manages to levitate a feather: “Wingardium Leviosa!”, is the Fourth Form Rooms of Harrow Old Schools, Harrow-on-the-Hill in Middlesex.
The Bodleian Library of Oxford University (seen also in The Madness of King George) supplied two locations: Duke Humphrey’s Library is where Harry tries to find out about Nicholas Flamel; and the elaborately fan-vaulted Divinity School became Hogwarts School’s hospital.
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 2001
Director
Cast
- Daniel Radcliffe
- Rupert Grint
- Emma Watson
- Alan Rickman
- Maggie Smith
- Ian Hart
- Richard Harris
- Robbie Coltrane
- Richard Griffiths
- John Cleese
- John Hurt
- Warwick Davis
visit the film locations
London: Flights: Heathrow Airport; Gatwick Airport
Regentís Park Zoo, Regent's Park, NW1 (tube: Camden Town, Northern line)
Leadenhall Market, Gracechurch Street, EC3 (tube: Bank, Northern and Central lines)
Middlesex: Harrow-on-the-Hill (rail, from London Marylebone; tube: Metropolitan line)
Harrow School: Visiting: Seven prime ministers including Sir Winston Churchill, attended Harrow School.ÝThe school's Fourth Form Room, seen in the film, is Britain's bestÝpreserved 17th century school room.
Berkshire: Martins Heron Station (from London Waterloo)
Wiltshire: Lacock Abbey, three miles from Chippenham(Great Western Main Line from London Paddington)
Gloucestershire: Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester (rail: First Great Western from London Paddington)
Oxfordshire: Bodleian Library, Broad Street, Oxford
Northumberland: Alnwick Castle. Alnwick is 33 miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 80 miles south of Edinburgh (both served by international airports). (rail: East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross)
Co Durham: Durham Cathedral, Durham (rail: East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross)
Yorkshire: North Yorkshire Moors Railway: Grosmont Station is reached by the Esk Valley Railway, running between Whitby & Middlesborough
Trivia
Leadenhall Market can be seen in Brannigan, with John Wayne; Lara Croft – Tomb Raider, with Angelina Jolie; and Proof of Life with Russell Crowe
Lacock Abbey was a featured location in 1958’s swashbuckler The Moonraker
Alnwick Castle is a veteran location, seen in Disney’s The Spaceman and King Arthur; Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, with Kevin Costner; Mary Queen of Scots; Becket, with Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton; and Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett
Gloucester Docks were featured in Maurice; and nearby Cheltenham College in Lindsay Anderson's If....
North Yorkshire Moors Railway hosted filming for All Creatures Great and Small and Neil LaBute’s Possession, with Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow