If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll likely have heard of Lacock as being a hub of many Harry Potter filming locations. Read on to discover all of the Harry Potter filming locations at Lacock and how to get to each of them.
Suggested reads: How to find all the Harry Potter filming locations in Oxford and All the Harry Potter filming locations at Gloucester Cathedral.
Where is Lacock?
Lacock is an English village locked in Wiltshire in the western part of England. Its located on the outskirts of the Cotswolds, about 30-45 minutes east from Bath.
How to get to Lacock
Lacock is a reasonably easy place to get to due to its proximity to many popular destinations like Bath, Bristol, the Cotswolds and London. You can visit via car, or if you’re planning to explore the Harry Potter locations in Lacock without a car, you can get a train to Chippenham and then a local bus towards Lacock from there. If you visit on a sunny weekend, both Lacock village and Lacock Abbey are a popular day excursions so do expect there to be a number of people (especially families).
Suggested read: The best day trips from London
Where to go in Lacock for Harry Potter?
Once you get to Lacock, there are two main areas you want to go to see the Harry Potter filming locations: Lacock Abbey and Lacock Village.
Harry Potter at Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey is found on the outskirts of the village (don’t worry, it’s a very small village!). Owned by the National Trust, you need to pay to go into Lacock Abbey and personally, I thought it was expensive for entry at £17 ($33AUD) per person. However, you can make the most of the entrance fee, where in addition to seeing Harry Potter locations, the Abbey is also home to the ‘birthplace of photography’ where the first photograph (using the photographic negative method) was taken (of a Lacock Abbey window). You don’t need to book your ticket in advance, as this can be purchased on arrival and you can check the most up to date entrance pricing here.
1. Lacock Abbey Cloisters
To see the Harry Potter filming locations at Lacock Abbey, you want to head around to the back of the Abbey building to enter the Lacock Abbey cloisters. Here you’ll enter the cloister area where you’ll instantly feel like you’ve been transported to the corridors of Hogwarts School.
The Lacock Abbey cloisters feature in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when Harry is hidden under his invisibility clock and comes across Snape threatening Quirrell. The Lacock Abbey cloisters also feature in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when Harry hears the basilisk snake moving through the walls.
2. Chapter House, Lacock Abbey
The next three Harry Potter locations in Lacock Abbey are found off the Lacock Abbey cloisters, with both Chapter House and the later Warming House, found right near the entrance, so they are easy to find. Chapter House is used in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as the room where Harry came across the Mirror of Erised while it was temporarily stored there. Lacock Abbey’s Chapter House also features in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Harry’s fellow students are gossiping about Harry after finding out he can speak Parseltongue. Please note: you can only see this room from the entrance and can’t walk in.
3. Warming House, Lacock Abbey
Chapter House features briefly in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as Professor Quirrell’s Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom (the scene where McGonagall goes to get Oliver Wood and Professor Quirrell is randomly holding an iguana). What is interesting about this Harry Potter filming location at Lacock Abbey is that the cauldron featured in this scene isn’t a Harry Potter prop, but actually belongs to the Abbey and was made in 1500! You can see it for yourself when you visit. Please note: like the Chapter House, you can only see this room from the entrance and can’t walk in.
4. Sacristy Room, Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey is also home to the Sacristy Room which features in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as Snape’s classroom (the first potion class where Snape monologues to the class as he walks in). Sadly when I visited the Sacristy Room wasn’t open to the public and when I enquired within they said that they were low on volunteers that day so likely they have closed some areas, but did also tell me they didn’t think they normally opened the Sacristy Room to the public – so just something to keep in mind if you’re visiting Lacock Abbey for the Harry Potter locations that Snape’s classroom/the Sacristy Room may not be available.
Harry Potter at Lacock Village
Once you’ve taken in all the Harry Potter locations at Lacock Abbey, it’s time to explore Lacock Village. As mentioned above the village is not very large so it is an easy (and flat) walk from Lacock Abbey into the village. There are a few pubs in Lacock Village so worth also stopping for lunch while you’re here exploring.
5. Lily and James house in Godric’s Hollow, where Voldemort first lost his powers.
Lacock Village is home to Godric’s Hollow, and Lily and James Potter’s home while Harry was a baby. This house is what is shown in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when Hagrid is explaining to Harry what happened to his parents (it features in the throwback scene with Voldemort walking up to the house from the front gate). Please note that by the time Godric’s Hollow features again in the later films the house shown is in Lavenham in Suffolk (an entirely different area in England) so this house is only featured in the Philosopher’s Stone.
You can find this house on Church Street (Google Maps location here). Just head up the street towards St Cyriac’s Church and you’ll see this house at the end of the road. Remember not to enter the land or disturb the people who live here.
6. Horace Slughorn’s Hideaway
Horace Slughorn’s hideaway may be a bit of a specific Harry Potter filming location, but as it is in Lacock village, it’s included in this list! For those who are fans of Harry Potter, they’ll recognise this house as the house Horace Slughorn was hiding from Death Eaters at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This, of course, makes it a muggle house and you can actually find it listed as Horace Slughorn’s House on Google Maps (location here!) Like the earlier Harry Potter Lacock filming location, this is a private residence so don’t enter the front garden while visiting.
7. Budleigh Babberton, a Muggle village and a Harry Potter Lacock location
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Budleigh Babberton is the muggle village that Horace Slughorn is hiding in (and where Harry and Dumbledore apparate to to go and convince him to work at Hogwarts). In the Harry Potter films, Budleigh Babberton is set in the streets of Lacock village and you can walk along the same path as Harry and Dumbledore as you explore. In the films, Dumbledore and Harry walk past the Sign of the Angel pub (called Babberton Arms in Harry Potter), which you can find on Google Maps here.
If you are interested in Harry Potter locations in Lacock, you may also be interested in
- Harry Potter locations in London you must visit
- How to find the real birthplace of Harry Potter
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- How to find all the Harry Potter filming locations in Oxford
- All the Harry Potter filming locations in Gloucester Cathedral
- The best day trips from London
- The cutest places to see near the Cotswolds
- Instagrammable locations in Bath, England
- The Bristol tourist: Things to see in Bristol
- Why you should visit Chester in Cheshire, England
