The south front of Lacock AbbeyLacock Abbey
- Best time
- Spring, when the grounds are in flower and before the summer crowds
- Getting there
- By car, or by bus from Chippenham station, about 3 miles away
Why it’s in the log
Lacock was a nunnery until the Reformation and a family house after it, and has belonged to the National Trust since 1944. Its cloisters were used for Hogwarts interiors in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. This is where Harry finds the Mirror of Erised, and where he hears the basilisk in the walls. The abbey came back for Half-Blood Prince and for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
It has an older claim to fame. In 1835 William Henry Fox Talbot, who lived here, made what may be the earliest surviving camera negative, of an oriel window in the south gallery. The Fox Talbot Museum is part of the abbey.
Also logged in United Kingdom
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Alnwick Castle
United KingdomThe Duke of Northumberland's castle, which played Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films, and still teaches the broomstick lesson on the lawn where Harry had his.
Durham Cathedral
United KingdomEngland's great Norman cathedral, whose cloister is where Harry lets Hedwig fly and whose chapter house was McGonagall's classroom.
Gloucester Cathedral
United KingdomA cathedral whose 14th-century fan-vaulted cloisters became the corridors of Hogwarts in three of the films.
