Hogsmeade Station 🚂 HP Location Guide

[15] Ottery St Catchpole

INTRODUCTION:

Ottery St Catchpole is a small town located in Devon, England. It was presumably named after a Saint Catchpole. The village has both a Muggle and a magical community, the latter quietly established after the passing of the Statute of Secrecy in the seventeenth century. 

PERMANENT RESIDENTS:

Wizarding families that live in or near Ottery St Catchpole include the Weasleys who live just outside in The Burrow, the Fawcetts, the Diggorys, and the Lovegoods.

KNOWN LOCATIONS:

The Burrow

The Small Cottage

The Lovegood House

Paper Shop

Stoatshead Hill

NOTES FROM THE ADMINS:

•The name is most likely a reference to the real Devon town of Ottery St Mary. Ottery St Mary is near Exeter, the city where Rowling went to university, so it is plausible that she visited it, or at least had heard of it. There are also several locations near Ottery St Mary that include "Burrow" in their names, possibly making them namesakes for the Weasleys home. 

•The word Ottery means "on the river Otter." Catchpole gives an impression of a Quidditch goal post or, perhaps, a fishing rod. However, Merriam-Webster defines "catchpole" as a Middle English term for a sheriff's deputy, usually assigned to collect a debt. Possibly a humorous reference to the impoverished Weasleys.

•In the video game series for the sixth film, the areas of Ottery St Catchpole leading up to the Lovegoods were full of Whomping Willows, and in early 1998 infested by Inferi summoned there by Death Eaters on Voldemort's orders. As this is a task in the game, it cannot be considered canon.

•The small cottage (mentioned earlier) surrounded by a cluster of low hills was located a few hours of walking distance from the Weasley home, described as having a a neat little kitchen with geraniums on the windowsill, although it seemed to be deserted by the time the Trio walked past it, suggesting that the residents either had gone into hiding or went missing as a result to the war. This might be the family home of either the Diggory family or the Fawcett family.

•The Lovegood family resides in a house shaped like a rook not too far from the Burrow, it is hidden amongst the hills and surrounded by gardens.

•Stoatshead Hill was a steep hill located outside the village of this town. One of two hundred sites throughout Britain selected to house Portkeys to the Quidditch World Cup in 1994. There were large tufts of grass and holes build by rabbits that people could fall in.