Spinner's End and Hogwart's protection

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 156767

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "laurawkids" <balrogmama at ...> wrote:

> First, a question to you all.  Do we know where Harry's town, or 
> Snape's are?  Do we have general directions to place them here or 
> there in the UK?  If we know they are nowhere near each other, then 
> never mind, but if we have nothing on them yet, I think I have found 
> something in OOTP which may support what Carol says here.  
> 
> p. 56 OOTP US paperback:
> 
>    "Bearing south!" shouted Mad-Eye.  "Town ahead!"
>    "They soared right, so that they did not pass directly over the 
> glittering **spiderweb** of lights below." (** mine)
> 
> It's not much, but this may be a tip-off that Spinner's End is in 
> the next town over from Harry.  

Geoff:
Members' analysis from canon in previous discussions suggests 
that they are not close at all.

The opinion of members over the years is that Little Whinging is 
fairly close to Heathrow. For the enlightenment of non-UK residents, 
Surrey is one of the "Home Counties" which surround London. 
Traditionally, it has been to the south-west of London - I started 
teaching in Surrey in the1960s before that part of it was absorbed 
into Greater London. At the same time, Middlesex, which lay north 
of the river, was broken up, part going to Greater London and part 
to become an extension  of Surrey now lying north of the river.

We also know from 'Philosopher's Stone' that Hagrid left Harry to 
get his train at Paddington railway station. This station is the London 
terminal of the old Great Western Railway which heads out towards 
Bristol and South Wales and stays on the north side of the river which 
lends credence to Little Whinging being part of "New" Surrey. If Harry's 
home was in Surrey south of the Thames, he would have travelled 
from Waterloo.

With regard to Spinner's End, most us who live in the UK felt that 
it was a northern town, possibly a Lancashire cotton town or a 
Yorkshire woollen town. The description of the run down streets 
and the derelict mill seemed to bear this out.