Hogsmeade Station 🚂 HP Location Guide

[8] Godric's Hollow

"Historically important to the wizarding world, it is the celebrated village where Voldemort was first defeated."

—Outview of the village.

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INTRODUCTION:

Godric's Hollow is a village in the West Country of England. It is a small community, which centres on a village square with only a church, a post office, a pub, and a few retail shops. The residential streets are lined with quaint cottages, and an area called Church Lane that leads up to the church.

NOTABLE RESIDENTS:

Godric's Hollow has been inhabited by a number of notable wizarding families. The Dumbledore family and Bathilda Bagshot both resided in the village. It is perhaps most famous as where Harry Potter and his parents lived when he was a baby, where they were murdered, and Lord Voldemort met his first downfall. Thus, the village is notable as the place where Harry Potter became known as the 'Boy Who Lived'. Despite this, Harry did not visit until Christmas of 1997.

OTHER SPECIFICATION:

According to A History of Magic, the graveyard is rumoured to be haunted. At any time it is forbidden to park in Godric's Hollow between 1 May to 30 September.

LOCATION:

Godric's Hollow is located in the West Country of southwestern England, putting it in the heart of perhaps the most wizarding-friendly region in Britain. Ottery St. Catchpole is in this area, as are Cornwall, Devon, several Quidditch teams, and a number of known Quidditch stadiums built on the abundant local moors.

APPEARANCE:

The hollow is described as being quaint. There is a narrow road with look-a-like cottages that reside on either side of it. There is streetlights at the centre of the village indicating it as the square. At the center of the village itself is a square with a post office, a pub, and a church with a graveyard behind it. In the middle of the square is a war memorial which, upon closer inspection by wizards, transforms into a statue of James, Lily, and young Harry — a monument to their final stand. The graveyard was described as having row upon row of tombstones, some very old. The headstones show members of different wizarding families that are buried there, such as an Abbott and Ignotus Peverell.

MUGGLE PREVENTION:

Bathilda Bagshot's note that Godric's Hollow is the home of a relatively large number of wizards does not indicate that it is a purely Wizarding village; in fact, Hogsmeade village is the only purely Wizarding village in Britain. As such, wizard residents of Godric's Hollow must still avoid open use of magic to avoid disturbing the Muggle residents of the village. This is why the monuments to the Potter family must be hidden: the sculpture of the family appears to be an ordinary cenotaph except at certain angles, and presumably only wizards can see it at all.

Similarly, the Potter cottage on the edge of the village is charmed to be invisible to Muggles. One must assume that a charm similar to the one that hides 12 Grimmauld Place must be in use at the latter site, to prevent Muggles from trying to build on the apparently empty lot as the village grows.

PLACES OF INTEREST:

Potter cottage: Home of James, Lily, and Harry Potter. Partly destroyed after Voldemort's attack in 1981, it had been left in its ruined state and made invisible to Muggles, as a monument to the Potters and to Voldemort's first downfall.

Potter memorial: A statue depicting James and Lily Potter holding baby Harry.

Bathilda Bagshot's home: The house of Bathilda Bagshot. Nagini attacks Harry and Hermione there in 1997.

Dumbledore home: Home of the Dumbledore family before the death of Ariana Dumbledore.

Graveyard: The local cemetery has among others, the graves of the Potter, Dumbledore, and Peverell families.

St Jerome's Church: The local church.

Church Lane: The area of Godric's Hollow that leads up to Clementine Church.

THE POTTER MEMORIAL STATUE:

A statue was later erected at the centre of the village square in Godric's Hollow in memory of James and Lily Potter and a dedication to Harry Potter. It's unknown exactly when it was erected and it can be assumed it was commissioned by the wizarding population of the hallow and the wizarding community of Great Britain.

From a distance, it appears as an obelisk, carved with the names of people who died in a war (presumably Muggle casualties of World War I or World War II). While Muggles can see only this obelisk, a witch or wizard can see that the memorial changes into a statue of a family as he or she approaches: James, Lily, and an infant Harry Potter (who looks content in his mothers arms). It was also said by Harry Potter that in winter time when snow gathers on the statues heads that the carvings appear to be wearing white fur hats.

NOTES FROM THE ADMINS:

•Godric's Hollow was famed as the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor, and also as the final resting place of at least one of the Peverell family.

•James and Lily's bodies were laid to rest together in the Godric's Hollow graveyard. Their tombstone reads, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

•In The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore prop for the first part of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, "Godric's Hollow" is poorly transcribed as "Godlike's Hollow".[8]

•Godric's Hollow, then called Dark's Hallow, was the subject of the first line J. K. Rowling ever wrote for the Harry Potter series, not including preliminary notes.[9]

•According to Harry Potter, after reading a gravestone it appears that some soldiers might have lived and died in Godric's Hollow as a the said gravestone reads "They gave their life so others might live."

•It was once believed that a church in Godric's Hollow named St Jerome's Church was actually called the Parish Church of St. Clementine. However, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child revealed its true name to be St Jerome.