There are people who can’t help but break out the trivia when watching movies and TV shows with others, turning into a veritable human IMDB page as soon as the lights go down. How else would we get to hear, once more, that Viggo Mortensen broke his toe when he kicked that helmet, or that Indiana Jones wasn’t originally meant to shoot the swordsman? My own particular movie watching vice is in this vein too: I can’t help but point out filming locations if I know they are either local or somewhere we’ve visited before. This happens more than you would think actually, and has become even more frequent now that I live in Berkshire and find myself in close proximity to plenty of pretty little towns favoured by Hollywood. One such place is the village of Lacock in Wiltshire, which I first noticed when watching the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice TV series last year. In fact, Lacock is evidently a firm favourite with filmmakers, appearing in no less than:
– Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (2001)
– Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
– His Dark Materials (2019)
– Cranford (2007-2009)
– Wolf Hall (2015)
– Downton Abbey (the 2010 TV show and the 2019 film)
The National Trust, who almost entirely own the village, have very much embraced its usage on the silver screen and even provide a map at the site car park highlighting key filming locations.
Lacock is comprised of stunningly preserved medieval streets, some of which provided the setting for Meryton – the town frequently visited by the Bennet sisters and where they first meet Mr. Wickham.
Although the street was turfed over for the show and is now decidedly more full of parked cars, it still looks much the same as it did at the time of filming. The Red Lion pub, also on this street, was used for the filming of the first dance where Mr Darcy snubs Elizabeth. The atmosphere inside this pub is exactly what you would hope from somewhere that once played a part in a Jane Austen adaptation, replete with a crackling fireplace and a hearty meal.
Progressing down the road a bit, there is an unassuming house with a dark blue door sitting at the end of the street. This is in fact the home of The Boy Who Lived – or at least, it was during the filming of the first Harry Potter film:
Going back down the high street and following the road to the edge of the village, we see another familiar domicile – the home of Professor Horace Slughorn in The Half-Blood Prince:
However my favourite part of Lacock is without a doubt the Abbey. This beautiful country house is brimming with history, being originally founded as a 13th century nunnery. At one point, it was home to William Fox Talbot, developer of the some of the first photographic methods, and the building itself was captured in one of the earliest photographs ever taken.
Atmospheric churches in the countryside, especially those with literary connections, are among my favourite places to visit and Lacock Abbey is a particularly bewitching place. This is in no small part due to its connections to some of the most magical scenes in Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone.
When Professor McGonogall pulls Griffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood from his Defence Against the Dark Arts class, she is in fact pulling him out of this room in Lacock Abbey. As in the film, there is a large cauldron in the centre, but much of the room was seemingly blocked off, making it seem smaller in the movie:
I certainly took my time as I moved through the hauntingly charming cloisters, some of which were again used in Harry Potter, but also make an appearance as the school attended by Darcy and Mr Wickham in Pride and Prejudice (1995):
The last location, and arguably the best, is this cavernous room where Harry finds the Mirror of Erised. Bright light pours through the windows and bounces off the sweeping arches and colourful medieval floor, making entering this room feel as if you’re stepping into Hogwarts itself:
Leaving Lacock: Concluding Thoughts
Lacock proved to be much more than I had bargained for; I visited the village expecting to wander down the high street, maybe stopping at the same shop window that Kitty and Lydia Bennet peek through. However it turned into a very lively day out, with lots to look at and learn about, as the whole village is incredibly picturesque and well maintained by the National Trust. The trip left me feeling rather vindicated for my tendency toward spouting filming location facts – in fact, if it leads to day trips as nice as this, I think I have all the reason I need to crack out the trivia.
You can read about more of my literary themed trips on this page!
Have you visited anywhere that has doubled as a film or TV location? Bonus points if it is a book adaptation! Let me know in the comments below.
