Tube clues to whereabouts of Grimmauld Place (was London Locations)

[queen_astrofiammante]

No: HPFGUIDX 83992

>First June said:  
"My geographical siting of 12 Grimmauld Place was... either Hackney 
in North East London or Stoke Newington.

Then Liz said:   
> "I believe it takes the kids and their escorts about 20 minutes to 
walk to Kings Cross Station on September 1, so Hackney and Stoke 
Newington are unlikely... More probable locations would be Kings 
Cross itself, Kentish Town, Angel/Islington, Camden Town." <snip> 
"12 Grimmauld Place has always had a 'posh gone to seed' element for 
me, especially considering the attitudes and snobbery of the Blacks, 
more inner-north-west than north-east."


> Then Astrofiammante said:
> Other possibilities would be Holborn, which has got some very posh 
bits but also some 'formerly posh bits' gone to seed, and which is 
close to Kings Cross. Also Clerkenwell or Farringdon?

Then Astrofiammante had a few more thoughts some days later: 
(Anyone with the good fortune not to be familiar with the London 
Underground might find the maps at www.thetube.com useful)

This is a long post, so apologies in advance.

It occurs to me that we do have more information about the location 
of Grimmauld Place - what we can deduce from the Tube journey made by 
Harry and Arthur Weasley on the morning of Harry's hearing at the 
Ministry of Magic.

In ch7 of OotP we hear that "the run-down streets were almost 
deserted, but when they arrived at the miserable little underground 
station they found it already full of early-morning commuters." This 
would probably rule out Kings Cross itself, which is obviously one of 
the biggest interchanges on the network. It would probably rule out a 
few other of the bigger stations as well - certainly it wouldn't 
describe Holborn or Farringdon stations, to my mind, which are large 
and busy.

Next clue: "Five minutes later they were boarding an underground 
train that rattled them off towards the centre of London. Mr Weasley 
kept anxiously checking and re-checking the Underground Map above the 
windows. Four more stops, Harry ... Three stops left now ... Two 
stops to go, Harry ..."

For one thing, it does not sound as if they changed lines - I'm not 
sure Arthur's heart could have stood the excitement, and we must have 
got some description of his pleasure at using escalators, etc. For 
another thing, it doesn't sound like a particularly long journey - 
perhaps about five stops out of central London?

Then we read: "They got off at a station in the very heart of London, 
and were swept from the train in a tide of besuited men and women 
carrying briefcases."

To my mind, the stations serving the "very heart of London" are on 
quite a small list, as follows:

Charing Cross - Northern and Bakerloo line
Piccadilly Circus - Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines
Westminster - Jubilee line
Leicester Square - Northern and Piccadilly lines
Embankment - Northern, District and Circle lines.

There are a few other peripheral ones like Green Park, Tottenham 
Court Road, St James's Park and Victoria which I considered including 
but rejected. I'm defining "the very heart of London" with a bias 
towards Westminster and the West End, because that's where the 
cultural and political institutions (and the Monarchy) are, and Harry 
and Arthur are travelling to the Ministry of Magic, after all.

(I'm not really thinking of The City here, which is the geographical 
heart of London, and which you'd have to consider if JKR had 
mentioned commerce. It is also quite a focus of the transport network 
because it's where people work. But it doesn't fit JKR's description, 
and I don't think it's where the MoM is.)

So, what districts are about five stops back up each of these Tube 
lines from central London but still within 20 mins' walk of Kings 
Cross?

Jubilee - Northbound you're off to north west London, as suggested by 
Liz. You could certainly include Swiss Cottage, possibly West 
Hampstead or even Kilburn at a stretch. These are in Camden - the 
same London Borough as Kings Cross - but it's a goodish walk across 
to the station. Southbound is unpromising, being a fairly rapid trip 
out to Docklands. 

Piccadilly - To my mind this is right out going westbound. 
Knightsbridge and Kensington are all wrong, and just not within 
walking distance of Kings Cross. Eastbound takes you straight towards 
Kings Cross. Caledonian Road - Holloway, Barnsbury, N7, the district 
around Pentonville Prison, sounds rather promising.

Northern - We are told the train 'rattled' - particularly evocative 
of the Northern line! Northbound you'd get to Camden Town or Kentish 
Town, which was certainly two of the districts suggested, although 
possibly a bit upmarket in places? Also Chalk Farm, which I'm not too 
familiar with. You're within easy walking distance of Kings Cross 
here. Southbound it's Stockwell, Clapham and Tooting - far too long a 
walk.

Bakerloo - Northbound, Marylebone and Edgware Road would suit the 
description admirably from the point of view of the district, but 
they're a bit far from Kings Cross and both are major stations rather 
than "miserable little" ones. Southbound is too far away from Kings 
Cross.

District - Eastbound and you're in The City which is not a 
residential neighbourhood, or anywhere near Kings Cross. Westbound 
takes you back towards Kensington - already ruled out

Circle - identical to the District.

So it seems from this that we could try looking at the following 
neighbourhoods for Grimmauld Place (helpful map website is 
www.streetmap.co.uk, use 'London Street' function): 

Swiss Cottage NW8 - maybe a bit too upmarket?
West Hampstead, Kilburn NW6 - good, but a long walk to KC
Holloway, Caledonian Road, Barnsbury - seems to me to fit all 
criteria 
Camden Town, Kentish Town, Tuffnell Park, Chalk Farm - around 
NW5/NW7, as above

So that gives us N7, NW5, NW7. Rather looks like Liz was spot on in 
her original post, doesn't it?

But to subject this to a little scrutiny, let's briefly work from the 
other direction - what likely-sounding stations are there that we 
haven't looked at?

Angel - because the Northern Line is divided into two branches 
(Charing Cross branch and City branch), the journey from here into 
central London would require a change at one of the really busy 
stations like Kings Cross or Euston - doesn't seem to fit the 
description really. Same goes for Old Street.

Farringdon - I thought this district fitted the bill, but it's a big 
station serving four different lines so I can't reconcile this with 
the station description and the journey doesn't work.

Barbican - neighbourhood is all wrong, journey doesn't work

Russell Square - both journeys work but Grimmauld Place doesn't sound 
like it's in Bloomsbury to me.

Goodge Street and Warren Street - journey works but this is a very 
busy district around Tottenham Court Road, which I don't associate 
with being massively run-down.

Holborn/Chancery Lane - doesn't fit station description

Great Portland Street/Euston Square - these work in every regard 
except the Tube journey - especially the "miserable little 
underground station" one, because the stations really are tiny and 
cramped. But... no straightforward route into "the heart of London". 
Somers Town or St Pancras would be good neighbourhoods, but you'd get 
on the Northern Line at Euston to go into central London, which is a 
mainline station well known to JKR - it's the one she mixed up with 
Kings Cross, after all - and not a "miserable little" station.

Hang on... what if she mixed up the Kings Cross and Euston districts 
too? No, let's not even go there... ;- ))

All comments/criticisms/additions of bits of local knowledge very 
welcome.

>  
> www.deadjournal.com/users/astrofiammante