Geography as related to the accents

[junediamanti]

No: HPFGUIDX 81911

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Donna" <deemarie1a at y...> wrote:
> Okay, I'm not very good at finding posts about subjects.  So, if 
this 
> has been discussed, please point me to the right thread!
> 
> All this discussion about the characters various accents got me to 
> thinking about where the scenes are set.  Everyone assumes that 
> Hogwarts is in Scotland, JKR has them traveling north for hours on 
> the train.  I don't dispute that, but how did we come up with that 
> location?
> 
> Being American, I really have no frame of reference for all these 
> places.  Just where is Surrey in relation to London?  Where exactly 
> in London is Kings Cross?  Where would the MoM be located?  What 
> about Ottery St. Catchpole?
> 
> Point me to a really good map!
> 
> Thanks for your patience.  And to our list elves, sorry if this is 
> off topic.
> 

Okay - here's some straight dope in some of the Geography from a 
native.

1.  Scottish location is implied by a number of factors.  The general 
situation and Hogwarts  itself - castle, JKR's connections with 
Scotland.  Lake (lochs?), mountains, remoteness - all spell Scotland 
to the British reader.  London is served by some 8 or so "main line" 
railway stations - ie those that serve trains to other cities in the 
UK.  Kings Cross is one a trio of stations in the north/east of 
Central London and the majority of the trains that run from Kings 
Cross go to the north east of England and Eastern Scotland.  I 
suspect JKR chose this station because of her familiarity with it - 
trains from this station go to Edinburgh where she lived.  Takes 
about 5 hours to Edinburgh from Kings Cross.  As Hogwarts seems to be 
set in a much more northern part of Scotland than Edinburgh (I would 
kind of guess the more southern Highlands) I estimate a 6 - 7 hour 
train journey.

2.  Surrey.  The UK is divided into regions called counties.  Surrey 
is the county directly to the south of London.  Home counties listees 
should forgive me, but there is a kind of implication that Surrey is 
rather bourgeois and suburban - in a very particular way.  In short, 
an ideal location for people with the kind of values of the Dursleys.

3.  Ministries.  The standard place in London is Whitehall in London -
 this is very central and is quite near the Houses of Parliament.   I 
haven't got my books with me but I suspect the MoM will be somewhere 
near.  

4.  Ottery St Catchpole.  This has been picked over before to my 
knowledge.  There is a village in Devon (SW England) called Ottery St 
Mary.  Ottery St Catchpole could be anywhere - but I suspect from the 
name it is southern.  Northern names tend to owe a lot to the norse. 

OK  - this is probably far more information than you want or need.  
It would be very helpful for someone to draw up a Harry Potter map.  
I always found the maps in Tolkein so very useful in giving a sense 
of place.

Listees might know if the Lexicon has any further information - this 
is generally where I turn for help with these issues.

June