“Where are Hogwarts, Bleak House and the 100 Aker Wood?”
January 8, 2019 5:04 AM   Subscribe

Fake Britain is a map of fictional locations in England, Scotland and Wales by Matt Brown and Rhys B. Davies for the Londonist, featuring places drawn from literature, film and television. Eva Snyder compiled an index [Google Docs].
posted by Kattullus (51 comments total) 31 users marked this as a favorite
 
If it doesn't have Collapsed Pudding, it is dead to me
posted by thelonius at 5:21 AM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Related: Oh man, so glad to see www.entrances2hell.co.uk is still around.
posted by gwint at 5:23 AM on January 8, 2019 [3 favorites]


Glad to see Summerisle.

I never realized Studley Constible was a Place, rather than a Type.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:24 AM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Odd to see Corinium since that is in fact a real place (Cirencester on the map) but using the Roman Name. Sort of like calling Londinium a fictional place.
posted by vacapinta at 5:41 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


I live in one of these! What work of fiction is Falport from?

Excited to learn Melchester (I assume of Roy of the Rovers fame) is in Cheshire.
posted by biffa at 5:49 AM on January 8, 2019


What do writers have against Leicester and Lincoln?
posted by pipeski at 5:50 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Love that the Island of Sodor made it. Reminds me of a fun afternoon spent deep down the rabbit hole of reading various deconstructions of the Thomas stories as fascist, imperialist, etc.
posted by Wretch729 at 5:51 AM on January 8, 2019


What work of fiction is Falport from?

Windbag the Sailor!

The linked index has the source of each place name.
posted by jontyjago at 5:52 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Looked for Lochdubh and Strathbane, did not disappoint.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:53 AM on January 8, 2019


Claire and Jamie Go To Hogwarts
Inspector Barnaby Disappears in Royston Valley
Thomas the Tank Engine and the Summerisle Express
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:02 AM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Thanks jontyjago, I clearly got ahead of myself and went straight to the map.
posted by biffa at 6:07 AM on January 8, 2019


Thank fuck, they included Scarfolk!
posted by Krazor at 6:36 AM on January 8, 2019 [3 favorites]


This is delightful. And educational: I was about to quibble that they'd put Llareggub in the wrong spot, seeing as how I'd supposed to be an analogue of Laugharne, which would be more or less where Abercorran is. But I then learned, which I'd never known before, that it's also thought to have been partly based on New Quay, which is where they've put it.
posted by misteraitch at 7:03 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Well, I'm sorry Trennels Farm didn't make it in there, but they've got Dorothy Sayers, Winifred Holtby, Elinor Brent-Dyer, Dodie Smith and Arthur Ransome. Not bad. (Also liked that the index specifies "Azkaban (island, unmappable)," which suggests that it's on the map somewhere but invisible.)
posted by huimangm at 7:11 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Surely Kirrin Island was nothing like that big?
posted by Segundus at 7:14 AM on January 8, 2019


Also, The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. My father bought this book for me a long time ago. Still have it.
posted by bz at 7:56 AM on January 8, 2019


Surely Kirrin Island was nothing like that big?

Nothing like how big? I don't see it on the map, and it's in the index but without a real counterpart listed (it's supposedly based on Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck which in true Ely/Thanet fashion isn't actually an island).
posted by kersplunk at 8:08 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Highly amused that the Island of Sodor is just across the water from Scarfolk.
posted by randomination at 8:44 AM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Missing the Isle of Lucy.
posted by condour75 at 9:05 AM on January 8, 2019


The not so covertly named “Nuclear Plutonium Store” is a little too close to Castle Dangerous for my liking.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:08 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


St. Trinian's for the win! (Warning: Site might be on fire.)
posted by Roentgen at 9:24 AM on January 8, 2019


Segundus, agreed. Kirrin Island is much smaller. Five Run Away Together was my first Enid Blyton book, brought back to Canada from England by my mum when she went home to visit her family. I loved those books.

kersplunk, look on the south coast, pretty much smack dab halfway along.
posted by twilightlost at 9:51 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Mildly excited that Thunderbirds had an ep featuring the Humber (sorry 'Allington') Bridge.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:05 AM on January 8, 2019


Doesn't have Aldbrickham. Gaymead, or Sherton Abbas.
posted by happyinmotion at 10:25 AM on January 8, 2019


Midsomer is spelt wrong in the list.

So i shall pronounce Causton as caw-stun.
posted by clavdivs at 10:31 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


I never realised that Thornfield Hall and Pemberly were so close! Jane Eyre and Lizzy Bennet could have been besties. Except that Darcy would have disapproved of Rochester big time :)
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 10:36 AM on January 8, 2019 [5 favorites]


I am thrilled that Tackleford, W. Yorkshire, from John Allison's Scarygoverse is found on this map, but wonder where its port and seashore have gone.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:49 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


It's reassuring that Skyfall Lodge is so close to Castle of Aaaaarrrrrrggghh.
posted by me3dia at 11:07 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Middlemarch should be a village or town, definitely not a city.
posted by andraste at 11:21 AM on January 8, 2019


But wait! They have Pennenink and the Jolly Rock! All is forgiven.

(But where’s Lland-lubber?)
posted by andraste at 11:31 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Animal Farm doesn't seem quite so sinister in the middle of suburban Eastbourne
posted by Flashman at 11:37 AM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Whither Gormenghast? I might just be missing it, but I was expecting it.
posted by Shepherd at 12:25 PM on January 8, 2019


I'm on there!!! Woot!!
posted by widdershins at 12:34 PM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Perhaps someone has not spent enough time in Eastbourne.
posted by biffa at 12:45 PM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics are based on a similar premise, playfully weaving together elements of many other writers' fictional worlds to form a single universe for League's characters to operate in.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:46 PM on January 8, 2019


Surely Ambridge is a village rather than (as the index claims) a town.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:53 PM on January 8, 2019


Matt Brown got back to me almost immediately to say he's not super familiar with Gormenghast, but couldn't find any canonical location for it in Britain after a bit of research, so it's not on there. Which is fair. It's kind of defiantly "not anywhere" in terms of its location never being clear in the novels.
posted by Shepherd at 1:05 PM on January 8, 2019 [3 favorites]


I've spent plenty of time in Eastbourne. Years.
posted by Flashman at 1:31 PM on January 8, 2019


Looked for Lochdubh and Strathbane, did not disappoint.

They are on the wrong coast, which makes me mistrust the rest of the data. Or is that what you meant? It's like putting Sunnydale in Florida.
posted by GeckoDundee at 3:32 PM on January 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Only a handful of Agatha Christie locations, sadly. I really need to know where Chipping Cleghorn is.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:55 PM on January 8, 2019 [2 favorites]


Hogwarts is in Scotland? And that far North?
posted by nnethercote at 9:09 PM on January 8, 2019


GeckoDundee: They are on the wrong coast, which makes me mistrust the rest of the data.

Damn, that’s right. At least they’re in the right county though. You can email Matt Brown at matt@londonist.com with corrections.
posted by Kattullus at 12:03 AM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


nnethercote: Hogwarts is in Scotland? And that far North?

In the books Hogwarts is both somewhere in Scotland and outside the normal world, like Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station.
posted by Kattullus at 12:08 AM on January 9, 2019


Odd to see Corinium since that is in fact a real place (Cirencester on the map) but using the Roman Name. Sort of like calling Londinium a fictional place.

I asked the same question, this was the answer: "*Was* a real place. Because the town hasn't been called that for centuries, the name’s use in a modern setting (Jilly Cooper novels) counts as fictional within the context of this project."
posted by Pendragon at 1:13 AM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Hogwarts is in Scotland? And that far North?

They've placed it the near the Glenfinnan Viaduct as featured in the film and thus now a major tourist attraction.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:25 AM on January 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


I don't know how well known it is but, despite being an East Midlander I've never heard of Nottamun Town before... but there seems to have been several recordings including one by Fairport Convention
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:31 AM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Location of Hogwarts previously
posted by mbrubeck at 8:49 AM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


Howling is there! Doesn't seem like Flora's train ride could have been that long.
posted by apparently at 3:07 PM on January 9, 2019


I followed mbrubeck's link to kyrademon's fantastic comment, only to discover that kyrademon's conclusion puts Hogwarts within about ten miles of Lochdubh.

I've no idea what that means.

However, in looking for information to back up my claim re the location, I discovered that the books (by MC Beaton), which I confess I have never read, seem to be set in Sutherland. As the name suggests*, that's further north than the Kyle of Lochalsh. It appears the literary Lochdubh may well be exactly where the map puts it. Sutherland of course has a west coast too, and plenty of sea lochs (the books have the village overlooking a sea loch) in between.

Nonetheless I'm beginning to suspect that Matt Brown and his outsourcing help have done far more research on this than I have and that they have given the location of the Lochdubh from the books. I owe them an apology and my faith is restored.

I also discovered that Hamish Macbeth is red-haired and tall. I decided not to venture any further into the rabbit hole lest Wee Jock should turn out to be an English Setter or something...

*If you're Scandanavian as the namers of Sutherland were.
posted by GeckoDundee at 3:23 PM on January 9, 2019 [2 favorites]


I was kind of ho-hum on the whole thing until I noticed Shelmerston.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 4:55 PM on January 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


That’s true about the books, but the index specifically sources Lochdubh and Straithbane to television, so at least mentioning that to Matt Brown is worth the email.
posted by Kattullus at 10:36 PM on January 9, 2019


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