The Harry Potter series is over 30% longer than the King James bible, over a million words. For every Muggle born Mudblood and millions of fans, the kingdom of heaven is Hogwarts.
Rowling said if sheâd written the books anywhere else they would have likely been quite different,
so letâs counter the unplottable charm and explore four possible inspirations that may
have lent on her imagination...
âEveryone in?â shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, âRight then â FORWARD!â
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as
smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered
over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
The journey from platform 9¾, The Philosopherâs Stone
The black North Loch used to sit beneath Edinburgh Castle rock and the view from St Cuthbert Kirkâs orchards on the lakeâs shore, with the ancient turreted fortress towering over you, would be more than a little Hogwarts.
The lake had no mer-people, but according to ghost tour guides witches and wizards were drowned there, a bit like the old Triwizard tournaments.
Edinburgh univeristyâs professor Julian Goodare calls this bunk, stating that thereâs only one report of âWitch dookingâ in Scotland from the 1590s and that being when it was being discredited as evidence of Satanic bondage.
The professor added that the government never drowned anyone anyway, suspects had a rope tied to them to haul them out if they sank. He said âthey weren't stupid… They burned them.â đ¤ˇ
Guess itâs the only way to be absolutely, positively certain.
Bizarrely, Iâve come to live in the shadow of what could be a lot like Hogwarts, except Hogwarts has a lake.Edinburgh castle is a jumble of buildings, towers and battlements zig zagging the top of the rock. This is seen most clearly from the visitor approach across the Castle esplanade. Some of my visitors call it a city Castle and at night itâs lit up a warm Gryffindor gold.
JK Rowling visualised HogwartsâŚ
âA huge, rambling, quite scary-looking castle, with a jumble of towers and battlements. Like
the Weasleyâs house, it isnât a building that Muggles could build, because it is supported by magic.â
Well a scary building the Magic-less couldnât build might better fit Fettes after dark.
I asked the Castle for the best time to visit and they said this:
We advise customers to pre-book online to guarantee entry and best price [ ÂŁ3 off ].
If you book in advance, you can either:
I would also advise mornings tend to be the busier timeslots, and the site is quieter after 3pm.
In July and August the only way to guarantee entry is to book online, since the Castle is now limiting visitors when itâs busy because âwe want everybody coming to the castle to have a relaxed and enjoyable timeâ.
by Historic Scotland runs every half an hour, of the castle grounds.
âEach tour lasts roughly thirty minutes and covers the main external areas of the castle, leaving you free to explore the various other parts by yourself at the end.
Please note that you cannot pre-book your tour, but simply join the tour group at the meeting point when you visit.
Guided tours are delivered in English, although there are audio guides in a variety of languages available to hire at an additional cost.â
Historic Scotland will also tell you the Castle is the jewel in the Captialâs crown. They obviously donât get out on our Harry Potter tours much.
The Gothic architecture of Teviot Row House is very much in the spirit of Hogwarts.
Itâs a 16th century Scottish palatial style with pointy drum turrets and crow stepped gables.
Doesnât the cavernous entrance look welcoming and inviting? All those feelings Rowling conjures when Harry first enters Hogwarts...
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood thereâŚ
She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursleysâ house
in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to
make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
the Philosopherâs Stone
If you wish to visit and itâs open, go ahead. You can walk inside and chat to the nice person on reception, perhaps ask them âWhatâs the strangest thing youâve seen the Harry Potter society do?â. Then grab a photo from inside looking out of the Hagrid-doors to Bristo square. Or...
book a Potter tour for a richer experience
Fettes rises impressive on the skyline of Edinburgh, with a huge spire with a clock at the top and gargoyles
gazing out on every corner. The grounds are beautifully kept and huge. I can easily imagine the cloaked silhouette
of professor Snape pacing a window, inducting a new intake...
âYou are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making,â he began. ⌠âI donât expect you will really
understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that
creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ⌠I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory,
even stopper death â if you arenât as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.â
the
Chamber of Secrets
Fettes College was built in memory of Sir William Fettes son who died in 1818. William was a wealthy city merchant & twice the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, he bequeathed ÂŁ166,000 for the âthe maintenance, education and outfit of young peopleâ, specifically orphans and sons of needy parents.
Mortality rates were much higher back then, so it was considerably more likely you would lose your parents before reaching adulthood.
After Sir Williamâs death the money was used to acquire 350 acres of land for the school. The colossal size of Fetteâs legacy enabled golden boy architect David Bryce to pursue a grandiose design, the building is all spires, towers and pointy bits, a fusion of french château with strong elements of Scottish Baronial style.
In William âBraveheartâ Wallaceâs times the French and Scots were allied against the English in the âAuld (or Old) Allianceâ, and the school is âauld alliance gone over the topâ.
Architectural experts agree âit is undeniably one of Scotlandâs greatest buildingsâ.
The school attracted a formidable first headmaster, opening in 1870 and quickly gaining a reputation for academic and sporting excellence that has grown richer with time.
Indeed if you walk the palatial grounds on a lazy Sunday morning and cast a disillusionment charm you might find the air suddenly dense with whooshing broomsticks.
It is the most expensive school in Scotland, costing ÂŁ33,000 a year, it is nicknamed âthe Eton of the Northâ and when their alumni Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 they were able to bump up the fees.
In the 20th century demand for boarding schools had been falling, they were historied in peer bullying and teacher abuse children couldnât escape, we no longer felt this built character.
Dudley Dursley on Harryâs new school Stonewall High:
âThey stuff peopleâs heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall,â he told Harry. âWant to come upstairs and practise?â
âNo thanks,â said Harry. âThe poor toiletâs never had anything as horrible as your head down it â it might be sick.â
Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what heâd said.
the Philosopherâs Stone
The Harry Potter books were teaching a generation of children to read and
children began begging their parents to go to boarding school; competition for places soared by a third.
It had to be a boarding school to sustain the fantasy. Harry had to go somewhere thatâs an enclosed world to have his adventures.
Kids are incredibly powerless because everything is determined for them, so a rich fantasy life in which they do have power is
almost inevitable.
And a middle-class boarding school is a world where they are free of their parents. Being an orphan is very
liberating in a book. I think itâs a common fantasy of children that somehow these parents arenât their parents.
JK Rowling
Not all the pupils are so dewy eyed. On September 10th 2017 (after the Corn moon), a 16 year old boy was expelled after turning up agitated to Sunday chapel on âecstasyâ. Typical. Poor kid probably has Lycanthropy and was coming off Wolfsbane.
Ian Fleming, had a rough time at Eton, bullied by his red faced, port-fond House Master. Ian was unpopular amongst the boys too, being blackballed from an elite society 4 times.
He richened 007âs backstory by having James Bond attend Fettes, after being expelled from
Eton for a dalliance with a maid. He never changes. Bond at Fettes:
Here the atmosphere was somewhat Calvinistic, and both academic and athletic standards were rigorous. Nevertheless,
though inclined to be solitary by nature, he established some firm friendships among the traditionally famous athletic
circles, at the school.
By the time he left, at the early age of seventeen, he had twice fought for the school as a
light-weight and had, in addition, founded the first serious judo class at a British public school.
You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming wrote You Only Live Twice after Scot Sean Connery had become James Bond and was triumphant, he owned the part, so Fleming began to re-imagine his hero with a Scottish emphasis.
In fact in Flemmingâs final Bond novel, The man with the golden gun, Bond says he regards himself as âa Scottish peasant and will always feel at home being a Scottish peasantâ.
Prior to becoming Bond, Sean Connery was an Edinburgh milkman.
Like Hogwarts, Fettes has a vigourous board of governors and a few years ago 15 pupils were suspended for smoking Cannabis and 3 pupils expelled for providing it. Itâs actually been featured in a novel called Body Politic as a base for drug traders, the authorities blow the place up.
French chateaux? Free minded students? Perhaps itâd make a more fitting Beauxbatons.
We hope to ensure that our students leave Fettes as kind, interesting, independent minded individuals who are
willing to take on responsibility and motivated to contribute to society.
Fettesâ Headmaster
If you want to squeeze Edinburgh for every last gothic drop then you can approach the gates by walking down Fettes Avenue. Or do a Reeta Skeeta, give them a call and ask if thereâs an open day for prospective parents on, if not, just fly in as a greeny beetle.
Fettes contact pageIf Fettes is too far, or you feel too shy you could more easily venture down to Hogwartian Dean village, a secret oasis nestled in a valley beyond the New Town precipice.
Make sure to pop inside picturesque Well Court beside Dean pedestrian bridge, then enjoy a pleasant stroll along the Water of Leith to Stockbridge imagining the Deanâs 11 old flour mills, huge water wheels churning the powerful river sounding like the Hogwarts Express.
After dark our rule breaking prime minister would break out of Fetteâs dorms trekking this route in reverse to meet his day-pupil girlfriend who lived in Dean Village. It was his Hogsmeade, Butterbeer has a lot to answer for.
A refreshing hours
Walk đ From:Without stops itâs an hour. To explore the Cathedral, Gallery, Botanics then thatâs a happy half day.
Venues tend to open at 10am, they're free, although donations appreciated & the Galleries of Modern Art as of writing need prebooking, but they have good availability.
No! Harry Potterâs fiction, primarily made up. Conceptually Edinburghâs strongest Hogwarts analog is George Heriots. However JK Rowlingâs imagination is without restraint, Fettes gothic majesty is rampant, the building beats with her heart.
For Rowlingâs true feelings about Fettes & to witness the âgrand entranceâ just ask for a detour on my
Greater Edinburgh bike tourTo explore Edinburghâs UNESCO world heritage site & its cafĂŠs beloved by Rowling
Make it easy, book a Harry Potter tourOf course my blog guides too.
NEW: ½ day cycle tours of Edinburgh exploring Harry Potterâs development & JKâs progress.
Don your invisibility cloak, break JKâs Fidelius charm & discover where Rowling has truthfully lived, written & caffeinated for the last 30 years on a refreshing adventure around greater Edinburgh.