"Literary Links" - Harry Potter in Oxford Part 2

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

The Harry Potter movies also used Oxford locations in the Divinity School and in New College.

The Divinity School is another of Oxford's great medieval masterpieces with its impressive vaulted roof built between 1427 – 1483.  Beneath this roof is where students once debated with their masters to earn their degrees.   

Harry Potter fans will recognise the Divinity School as both the Hogwarts Hospital and the dance hall where Professor McGonagall attempts to teach the students how to dance.  The ancient library above is used by Harry, Ron and Hermione to find out details about Nicholas Flamel and Polyjuice Potion.  

The cloisters of New College, with the huge tree in the middle, served as the setting for a number of Harry Potter scenes.  It was here that Mad Eye Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret, where pupils wear ‘Potter stinks’ badges, where Harry shares the secret with Cedric Diggory that their first challenge was dragons, and where Harry calls Ron a ‘git’.

This is an excerpt from the self guided tours of Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones.  

The Divinity School is found in Tour Three.

New College is found in Tour Two

The full tours are found on www.obelisktours.co.uk

"literary Links" - Harry Potter in Oxford

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

A number of Christ Church College locations were used for filming the Harry Potter movies.  

The old cloisters provided the backdrop to Harry being shown his father’s Quidditch trophy.   

The stairway up to the Dining Hall was used as the entrance to Hogwarts where Professor McGonagall informs the new students they are about to be sorted into their houses.  Christ Church decided to not use the Sorting Hat for the selection of their students.  Two other scenes were filmed on this staircase: when Filch, the caretaker, catches Harry and Ron arriving late, and when Harry has a flashback of Dumbledore talking to Tom Riddle.

Even though the Dining Hall was not used for filming it was the inspiration for the Hogwarts’s main hall.  You can easily imagine floating candles, moving pictures, flying owls and hurrying ghosts. 

More Harry Potter, Oxford locations in our next post...

This is an excerpt from the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 1  which explores around the southern part of Oxford.  The full tour is found on  www.obelisktours.co.uk

"Literary Links" - Trolls in the Cathedral!

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Gloucester Cathedral’s Great Cloister is the birthplace of fan vaulting – in which the structure of the ceiling is made of intricately carved ribs resembling a fan.    These cloisters are magnificent - although many younger visitors come here to seek trolls rather than architecture.    

The cloisters were started in 1351 and not fully completed until 1412.  There are over 35 English buildings surviving today with these beautiful fan vaults with some great examples in King’s College, Cambridge, Bath Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Christ Church, Oxford. 

For centuries the cathedral reaped the benefits of pilgrims visiting the tomb of King Edward II, but a new type of pilgrim has been added to the guest list. These pilgrims are Harry Potter fans.who come to see the famous vaulted cloisters.   

The first, second and sixth films shot Hogwarts scenes in these cloisters.    Here you will find a corridor from the house of Gryffindor including the door to their common room – where none can pass without giving the correct password to the Fat Lady in the oil painting – played at first by Elizabeth Spriggs and then by our wonderful Dawn French. 

  On these cloister walls were discovered, scrawled in blood, the words “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.  Enemies of the heir beware.”   These cloisters are also where Moaning Myrtle floods the girls toilets.  Most famously Harry and Ron hide along these corridors as they come to the rescue of Hermione who has been trapped by a vicious troll. 

  They hid in the ancient lavatorium which is also where Harry hears Snape declare he has uttered the unbreakable vow.  

J.K.Rowling's creations have created a unique tourism niche as movie sets for Hogwarts can be found  all over the country including in London, Oxford, Alnwick, Lacock and here in Gloucester.  

This is an excerpt from the tour Gloucester City Tour - Part One which explores the streets around the Cathedral.  The full tour is found on  www.obelisktours.co.uk

London - Whitehall - Ministry of Magic

This is an excerpt from the tour Whitehall  found on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

As you turn right into Scotland Place you are passing near the entrance to the Ministry of Magic!  

In the first Harry Potter movie they added a false telephone box on the corner which serves as the entrance to the Ministry of Magic.  In part one of the Deathly Hallows it is in this garage where Harry, Ron and Hermione knock out some unsuspecting Ministry workers and use polyjuice to steal their identities.  Sadly for our trio the phone box disappeared in this movie and they have to flush their way into the Ministry via some public toilets.   

So proceed with caution… muggles are everywhere.

More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour London - Whitehall  available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk