The magnificent Alnwick Castle, in Northumberland also had a starring role in the first two Harry Potter movies. The Cathedral is open Monday to Saturday 10am - 4pm and Sundays 12noon - 4pm. Harry Potter fans are invited to don their wizarding house colours and robes to explore McGonagall’s classroom, get a selfie in the cloisters and see if you can recreate your favourite scene from the movies. To mark this very special occasion, Durham Cathedral will be opening the Chapter House on Saturday 20 November, from 10am – 2pm. The cloisters are open to visitors throughout the year, where you can strike a pose and recreate your favourite Harry Potter scenes, however The Chapter House is only open on special occassions and during events - so keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to step inside McGonagall's classroom. The Triforium – which is an interior gallery overlooking the cathedral’s nave, doubled up as the Forbidden Corridor in which the young wizards encounter the terrifying three-headed dog Fluffy who is guarding a trap door which leads to the Philosopher’s stone.

May fans are surprised to find out that another well-known scene was filmed high up inside the Cathedral. It’s in this classroom where the students are taught transfiguration, how to turn animals into water goblets, where McGonagall surprises Harry and Ron as they arrive late to her lesson, and where the Professor reluctantly explains the history behind the chamber of secrets. The stunning Chapter House was once where the daily business of the monastery was undertaken, but in the Harry Potter movies it was transformed into Professor McGonagall’s classroom. You may recognise the cathedral as she flys off, which was digitally enhanced to look like the grand Hogwarts castle. It was in the snow-covered cloisters where Harry releases Hedwig to stretch her wings and fly away over the snowy castle. Witches and Wizards pass through the covered walkways in-between classes, Harry and Hermione would confront Hagrid (many, many times), Ron’s 'eat slugs' spell backfires and he ends up vomiting slugs after trying to defend Hermione’s honour, and Harry earns Dobby the House Elf his freedom in the cathedral cloisters. Many pivotal scenes were filmed at various locations throughout the cathedral for the first two movies – The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was originally brought to life at Durham Cathedral. To mark twenty magical years since November 2001, when the first film adaptation of J.K Rowling’s boy wizard was released in UK cinemas, we’ve created a muggles guide to Harry Potter filming locations you can visit here in North East England.

Believe it or not, the 16th of November 2021 will mark 20 years since Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone first hit our screens!

Harry potter film locations