Harry Potter in Lacock Abbey and New College
This post will be the final episode of my Hogwarts series. Lacock Abbey and New College were used to shoot Professor Snap's lab in Harry Potter 1 and 2 as well as the courtyard in Harry Potter 3.
Lacock Abbey, Ela's Masterpiece
Located east of the city of Bristol, Lacock Abbey was constructed in 1232 by the third countess of Salisbury, Ela. Her childhood was rather harsh, but we lack details about it compared to her later life. Early in her life, she was smuggled to Normandy by her mother, Eleonore de Vitre. Though the reasons are not very clear, it is likely she did so to protect her daughter from her uncle Philip who was probably trying to get the title of Count of Salisbury from the underaged girl. Family bonds at the time usually meant a lot less when power and money got in the way!
The life of Ela Countess of Salisbury
As good intentions as she had, Ela's mother forgot the crucial detail of the girl being the ward of King Richard I, who was the head of the Angevin Empire. To put it shortly, it was England's biggest middle finger to France. This meant that he wanted Ela back in his court, and this happened rather quickly when one of his knights, named William Talbot, managed to find Ela's whereabouts after some clever use of disguises and good searching skills. After being brought back to England, the king promptly betrothed her to his illegitimate brother William Longspee. Damn, that's a lot of Williams in this story!
The Abbey building
Despite their marriage being arranged and William being significantly older than Ela, the couple was rather happy. She even refused to remarry when William died on his return from the crusades as he was poisoned. Ela decided to be a strong, independent woman who needed no man and took control of her family's lands, becoming Countess of Salisbury and sheriff of Wiltshire. Around this time, she built the Abbey so that she could bury her husband there. She also founded another monastery the same day she started building Lacock, but that one is unimportant to our movie series. After the Abbey was constructed and an order established, Ela became the first abbess and dedicated the rest of her life to managing her entire estate. A job she proved herself particularly good at since, by the time of her death, Lacock and its surroundings were utterly self-sufficient.
Unfortunately, everything crashed when Henry VIII reared his ugly face, and the Abbey was far less lucky than Durham Cathedral. The order was disbanded and not replaced, leaving the place abandoned for quite some time. The year following the dissolution, William Sharington bought the Abbey and turned it into his country house, demolishing much of its original structure. We will have to wait until the 18th century to see the most famous owner of the Abbey turned resident, William Henry Fox Talbot…. Another William? That's the fifth one so far. He was a British scientist and one of the pioneers in the foundation of photography.
New College
By the earliest building used to film Hogwarts' scenes, New College was built in 1379 by – you've got to be kidding me – William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester. Though the building itself has a modest history, it was part of a large complex known as Oxford University. Beyond this, the building was nothing more than your usual campus ground, and I have nothing interesting to say about it. Sorry for the anti-climactic end.
Anyways: final William count: 6
So, see you next time and I hope I won't have to talk about another William ever again. Right? Guys?
