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The Map of Hogwarts and Surrounding Areas: setting
Analysis Sun position Other sources for the area around Hogwarts Appearance
Conclusion Criteria which must be met Map of area around Hogwarts/Hogsmeade
This section deals primarily not with Hogwarts itself, nor with Hogsmeade, but with the wider area around them, and in particular the arrangement of the mountains around Hogwarts. As regards Hogwarts itself it is concerned mainly with its compass-orientation.
Working out the basic compass-orientation of the castle and grounds is a good starting-point before examining them in any detail. Aside from being interesting in itself, also makes it easier to visualise the layout of the area. It means that when something is described in the books as being to the south, or in the direction of the sunrise, we can more easily place it in relation to other features of the grounds. It also makes it easier to describe directions and carry them from map to map if we can give a compass-direction, instead of e.g. "at the top left of this drawing".
The main clue to orientation which the books give us is the direction and time of the sunrise and sunset on various dates. Because variations in the height of features lying between Hogwarts and the horizon will affect the exact times and positions of sunset and sunrise, analysis of orientation is intimately linked with analysis of the mountains which surround Hogwarts.
For reasons explained in the page on location, I have used a point at latitude 5° West and longitude 57° 30′ North - that is, in the wild, empty country just north of Kintail - as my standard reference point for purposes of calculating sunset times etc. at Hogwarts. References to sunrise and sunset times in the Galloway Hills refer to a point at latitude 4° 30′ West and longitude 55° 20′ North.
Note incidentally that we know in what year the various events occurred - which is helpful when looking up tables of the sun's position on specific days - because we know that the first, autumn term of Harry's second year was in 1992. We know this, in turn, because Nearly Headless Nick celebrated the five-hundredth anniversary of his death that term, and we are told that he died in 1492.
The sun sets more or less due west in spring and autumn (exactly east and west at the equinoxes). In the northern hemisphere it is always due south at noon - although its height above the horizon is greater in summer than in winter - but it rises and sets somewhat north of due east and west during the summer, and somewhat south of them during the winter.
The sun's path across the sky loosely follows the coils of a tight spring of shallow pitch, winding slowly around at a rate of one turn of the helix per day. When it reaches its extreme positions at the solstices its pitch changes direction and runs back down a spiral of opposing thread. The pitch also changes almost imperceptibly with each turn, becoming level at the solstices.
The position of the sunrise and sunset on the horizon, how far north or south they are (as opposed to due east and west), is the sun's azimuth. Its height above the horizon is its altitude.
At the winter solstice the sun's path is at its furthest point south (seen from the northern hemisphere), and sunrise and sunset are equally far south. From then until the summer solstice the sun's azimuth drifts north with the sunset on each day slightly further north than the sunrise, then at the summer solstice they are equally far north, and then the cycle drifts back down south again, with the sunset each day slightly further south than the sunrise, until the next winter solstice. At the equinoxes, the sunrise and sunset are more or less due east and west, allowing for the fact that the sunset will be a few tenths of a degree futher north or south than the sunrise.
The exact details are slightly more complicated than this, because the fact that the earth's orbit around the sun is an ellipse means the earth speeds up slightly when it is closest to the sun (in early January) and slows when it is furthest (in early July), and this affects the sun's path. Although the winter solstice is the shortest day the sunrise continues to get later each day for a week or two after the solstice, although at that point the sunset also begins to get later, and by a wider margin, so that the length of daylight increases. But these effects are negligible for present purposes, and in any case we can get the times of sunrise and sunset for any given location and day from the U.S. Naval Observatory, who will do the work for us.
In practice, the turns of the sun around this giant, irregular helix are so shallow that we can treat the sunpath on any given day as a circle parallel to the equator. The visible part of the sunpath which we can see on any given day describes an arc from this circle.
At one extreme, at midwinter, the circle is at its farthest south (seen from the northern hemisphere) and only a thin slice of the circle shows above the horizon in Scotland, so that the sun crosses only the southern quarter or so of the sky, from the south-east up to a point due south but low in the sky, and down to south-west. In high summer the sun is at its farthest point north, most of the circular sunpath is above the horizon and the sun swings right across three-quarters of the sky from the north-east up to a point due south and high above the horizon, and then round in a wide sweep back to north-west. Good animations of this can be seen at Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project Motions of the Sun Module and at the National University of Singapore's page on The Apparent Motion of the Sun at Different Latitudes.
At its midsummer extreme, the sun in central Scotland rises slightly north of north-east and sets slightly north of north-west. That means that from its position in spring-time, when it rises due east and sets due west, the sun's rising and setting points have migrated north by about 48°, or 16° a month. Knowing this, we can say that if something lay in the direction of the setting sun on such and such a date, we can work out a fairly accurate compass-direction for it. Exact positions on different days at different locations can be obtained using azimuth tables: I used the ones produced by the U.S. Naval Observatory website, which is an excellent resource for this sort of thing.
It's not as simple as that, however, because the positions given in azimuth tables are the points where the sun crosses the horizon, assuming that the viewpoint and the horizon are the same height above sea level. If you observe the sunrise and sunset from a viewpoint which is substantially higher than the land around it, you will in effect look down over the curve of the world and past where the horizon would have been if you'd been standing on a flat plain, so that you see the early morning sun slightly earlier than you would do if you were lower down, and can watch the evening sun for slightly longer before it disappears from view.
On the other hand, if your viewpoint is surrounded by hills or mountains substantially higher than it is, they will obscure the path of the sun close to the true horizon and cause it to appear later, and disappear earlier, than it would have done if you had had a clear view to the horizon. The higher or closer the mountains, the more of the sun's path they will obscure and the more of a difference they will make to the times of sunrise and sunset. The point at which the sun appears from or disappears behind objects such as mountains and buildings is called the visible horizon, as opposed to the true horizon.
These differences in the timing of the sunrise and sunset can also make an appreciable difference to its final direction. The farther you can see down over the curve of the world, the further north the sun will be at its furthest points where it appears or disappears from view (if you're in the northern hemisphere). The higher the mountains which obscure the sun's path, the further south it appears or disappears - which in summer means closer to true east and west, and in winter, further from them.
A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. [6th June 1994, seen from Hagrid's house on the edge of the Forest.] [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]
When the sun had sunk to the level of the treetops in the Forbidden Forest [21st April 1997.] [HBP ch. #22; p. 446]
Hermione walked straight out of the oak front doors and down the stone steps into the balmy evening air. The sun was falling towards the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest now, and as Hermione marched purposefully across the grass -- Umbridge jogging to keep up -- their long dark shadows rippled over the grass behind them like cloaks. [cut] [cut] Hermione continued to stride towards the Forest. [OotP ch. #33; p. 662]
Viewed from the castle, the sun sets behind the Forbidden Forest in spring and summer. This means that, broadly, the Forest is west and north-west of the castle, but the exact direction is a more complex issue. In Scotland in high summer the sun, viewed from sea-level, sets at about 46° north of west (45° if this is Galloway, 47° if the Highlands). At the same time, we are told several times that there are mountains "around" Hogwarts, and there is internal evidence that there is a mountain situated west or north-west of Hogsmeade.
If so, in summer that will reduce the azimuth of sunset somewhat nearer towards true west (because they will lose sight of the sun as it passes behind the mountains, when it is somewhat higher and further west than its position when it sinks below the true horizon). Exactly how much will depend on how high the mountains are and how high above sea-level Hogwarts itself is. The evidence from canon is complex.
'Why did he tell us to go back three hours?' [cut] 'This is three hours ago, and we are walking down to Hagrid's,' [PoA ch. #21; p. 290]
'It is the decision of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures that the Hippogriff Buckbeak, hereafter called the condemned, shall be executed on the sixth of June at sundown –'. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]
'We'll have to hide in here,' said Hermione, who looked very shaken. 'We need to wait until they've gone back to the castle. Then we wait until it's safe to fly Buckbeak up to Sirius' window. He won't be there for another couple of hours ...oh, this is going to be difficult ...' She looked nervously over her shoulder into the depths of the Forest. The sun was setting now. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295]
We know that on the 6th of June 1994, Harry and Hermione started out at five to midnight, went back three hours to five to nine and then went and rescued Buckbeak before the sun set. The sun therefore set around thirty minutes after nine. In reality, the sun in Scotland that day would have set at about 9:10pm by Greenwich Mean Time, or 10:10pm by British Summer Time.
If wizards do not observe BST, then the sun set around twentyy minutes late, which would mean that there were no mountains to the north-west of Hogwarts, and Hogwarts itself was high up, so that it could "see over the horizon." If they do observe BST, then it set forty minutes early, which would mean that to west or north-west they were surrounded by mountains higher than Hogwarts.
'My son, Draco, is home for his Easter holidays. If that is Harry Potter, he will know.' [DH ch. #23; p. 370]
'But is he dead?' said Ron, three days after they had arrived at the cottage. [DH ch. #25; p. 407]
'I have reached my decision, Harry Potter,' said the goblin, [cut] 'I have decided to help you –' [DH ch. #25; p. 408]
They remained shut in the cupboard-like room for hours at a time. Slowly, the days stretched into weeks. [DH ch. #25; p. 411]
'I'm sorry,' he told Fleur, one blustery April evening [DH ch. #25; p. 412]
'It is I, Remus John Lupin!' [DH ch. #25; p. 415]
Mr Ollivander had sent Luna a new wand that morning. [cut][cut] 'We've told Bill and Fleur we're leaving tomorrow,' [cut] Though he would miss Bill, Fleur, Luna and Dean, not to mention the home comforts they had enjoyed over the last few weeks [DH ch. #26; p. 420]
Harry slept badly that night. [cut] It was a relief when six o'clock arrived and they could slip out of their sleeping bags, dress in the semi-darkness, [cut] The dawn was chilly, but there was little wind now that it was May. [DH ch. #26; p. 421]
In DH, there is a chain of events from March to May which begins and ends with scenes which contain important information about the timing and position of the sunrise. To begin with, we need to look at the order of events and establish their appoximate dates.
The Trio arrive at Shell Cottage immediately after the brawl at Malfoy Manor, which we know occurred during the Easter school holidays. Easter Sunday in 1998 was on 12th April, so if we use the real-time Easter dates, and assuming that Hogwarts' Easter holidays are the same as those of Muggle schools, the holidays would have run from 4th to 19th April inclusive, and the Trio would have arrived at Shell Cottage some time during that period.
However, shortly before being captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, the Trio were listening to the underground radio-station, and we are specifically told that it was March at that point. It probably wasn't the last day of March, either, or you would expect that to have been remarked on. We must assume, therefore, either that Easter happened earlier in the Potterverse than in real-time, or that Hogwarts' Easter holidays start about a week earlier than those of Muggle schools.
It is reasonable to assume, at least, that they arrived at Malfoy Manor very late in March. This is confirmed by the fact that at the end of April or beginning of May Harry thinks of their stay at Shell Cottage as "the last few weeks". If they had been there for well over a month he would surely have thought of it as "the last several weeks" or "the last month or more".
We know that their stay at Shell Cottage does end in early May. First we are shown a "blustery" day in April, then a few days later we are told that "there was little wind now that it was May". This suggests that April had been windy right up to the end. I believe that on her website, outwith the books, JKR has identified the day of the Gringotts raid as the First of May but this doesn't go with what's in the book: Harry would hardly attribute the calmer weather to its being May if it had only been May for six hours at that point. At the same time it's not very far into May, for only a few days seem to have elapsed since the "blustery April evening" of Lupin's visit.
So, we can surmise that they arrived at Malfoy Manor round about March 30th and departed for Gringotts round about May 3rd, give or take a few days. Does this tie in with the rest of what we are told?
It would mean that they arrived at Shell Cottage late on March 30th 1998, or early on the 31st. It would have been April 3rd when Griphook agreed to help them. They conspired with him for some weeks (not very effectively, given the length of time they had to plan in), and Lupin turned up towards the end of April. The raid on Gringotts took place around a week later, and the day before the raid on Gringotts Luna received her new wand. The Battle of Hogwarts, as we know from DH, started late in the evening of the Gringotts raid, and finished at dawn the following morning.
We know that the Trio's first morning at Shell Cottage was round about 31st March 1998. This is taking us back almost to the Vernal Equinox (March 20th), so sunrise would be close to due east.
But not until March did luck favour Ron at last. [DH ch. #22; p. 355]
'Bill and Fleur's,' said Ron. 'Shell Cottage on the outskirts of Tinworth!' [DH ch. #23; p. 379]
He walked into the little kitchen, to the basin beneath a window overlooking the sea. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, shell pink and faintly gold [DH ch. #24; p. 390]
Harry stood quite still, eyes glazed, watching the place where a bright gold rim of dazzling sun was rising over the horizon. [DH ch. #24; p. 391]
'In here,' said Bill, opening the door to his and Fleur’s room. It, too, had a view of the sea, now flecked with gold in the sunrise. [DH ch. #24; p. 392]
The rising sun was not visible here. The room faced the cliff-top garden and the freshly dug grave. [DH ch. #24; p. 398]
[cut] he saw, for mere seconds, a vision of the main street in Hogsmeade, still dark, because it was so much further north. [DH ch. #24; p. 402]
Voldemort was at the gates of Hogwarts; Harry could see him standing there, and see, too, the lamp bobbing in the pre-dawn, coming closer and closer. [DH ch. #24; p. 404]
[cut] the sun was barely visible over the horizon as he glided alongside Snape, up through the grounds towards the lake. [DH ch. #24; p. 404]
We know that Shell Cottage is at Tinworth, and that Tinworth is in Cornwall. On the first morning at Shell Cottage Harry watches the sunrise, and sees the sun come up over the ocean (the window which faces the sea also faces the sunrise, and the window which looks inland faces away from the sunrise). Since the long axis of Cornwall runs from south-west to north-east, this means that Shell Cottage has to be somewhere on the south coast of Cornwall: on the north coast of Cornwall, looking east necessarily means looking inland.
Despite what Harry (and JKR) thinks, the sun in Scotland between the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes rises earlier than in England, and substantially earlier than in Cornwall. On 31st March 1998 the sun rose at around 7:01am BST on the south coast of Cornwall, and 6:57am BST in the Kintail area (the most likely location for Hogwarts if it is in the Highlands - in Galloway the sun rose at marginally later, but by too little to be significant at that timne of year). Yet, Harry, using his mental link to Tom Riddle, watched Riddle arriving at a pre-dawn Hogwarts, and saw the sun rise considerably after it did so at Shell Cottage.
After watching the sunrise from Shell Cottage, Harry tells Bill he wants to speak to Griphook and Ollivander. Bill takes him upstairs and fetches Griphook, and Harry has fairly long conversations first with Griphook, then with Ron and Hermione, then with Ollivander. Towards the end of his conversation with Ollivander, at which point it must be at least half an hour after sunrise, he has a brief vision of Hogsmeade, still in darkness (which he attributes, perversely, to it being further north, although in fact that should mean the sunrise was earlier at that time of year).
About ten minutes later, after finishing his conversation with Ollivander and going out into the garden with Hermione and Ron, Harry sees Tom at the gates of Hogwarts (he got there fast - but he can fly). A minute or two later he sees Snape and Tom walking up through the grounds together, with the sun just barely appearing over the horizon.
So, the sunrise at Hogwarts was around forty minutes later than at Shell Cottage, give or take a few minutes, but it should have been around four minutes before it. So the sunrise at Hogsmeade/Hogwarts in early to mid April is retarded by about forty-five minutes.
Official sunrise in Kintail on 31st March 1998 was at about 5:57am GMT and 8° north of east. Forty-five minutes later the sun would have been at 6° of altitude and 2° south of east. For the sun to rise at that point, therefore, there must be a mountain due east of Hogwarts, the eastern edge of which obscures the sky at about 6° of altitude above the horizon and 2° south of true east, and the northern reach of which extends at least as far as 8° north of east.
He moved down the steps and out into the darkness. It was nearly four in the morning [DH ch. #34; p. 557]
Yaxley looked down at his watch. 'Time's nearly up. Potter's had his hour. He's not coming.' [cut] He and Dolohov turned and walked deeper into the Forest. Harry followed them, [cut] They had travelled on mere minutes when Harry saw light ahead, and Yaxley and Dolohov stepped out into a clearing that Harry knew had been the place where the monstrous Aragog had once lived. [DH ch. #34; p. 562]
He had expected to hear cheers of triumph and jubilation at his death, but instead hurried footsteps, whispers, and solicitous murmurs filled the air. 'My Lord ... my Lord ...' [DH ch. #36; p. 580]
The victorious procession marched on towards the open ground, and after a while Harry could tell, by the lightening of the darkness through his closed eyelids, that the trees were beginning to thin. [DH ch. #36; p. 583]
'I killed Severus Snape three hours ago,' [DH ch. #36; p. 594]
A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them, as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. [DH ch. #36; p. 595]
In DH, in early May when the sun would rise slightly north of east, Tom Riddle gives Harry an hour to come to him, just after Snape dies. Harry then goes back from the Shrieking Shack to the castle, ascends to the Headmaster's office, watches Snape's memories in the Pensieve and descends again, at which point he notes that it is almost 4am. Harry then walks into the woods, arriving within a few minutes' walk of Aragog's lair just as his hour ends.
If we divide up the hour-plus-a-few-minutes between the tasks which Harry had to do, so as to allow a feasible length of time for each activity, we end up with twenty minutes to get back from the Shack to the Headmaster's office, twenty minutes to view the memories and return to the edge of the wood (at which point it is about 3:50am) and twenty-five minutes to get to Aragog's lair. This leaves us with Snape having died at about 3:10am.
[For a more detailed breakdown of how I arrived at these figures, see the section on Harry's death-march on the page dealing with the Forbidden Forest.]
Tom Riddle is killed just after the sun first shows above the horizon, and a few minutes after saying that he had killed Snape three hours previously. So we can say that the sun rose at around 6:15am, with a bit of leeway in case Riddle's "three hours" was an approximation.
For reasons explained above, we know that the Battle of Hogwarts took place overnight, on or about the night of 3rd/4th May 1998. In Scotland in early May, the sun would rise circa 5:30am British Summer Time or 4:30am Greenwich Mean Time. Either way, the sunrise was delayed, which tells us that there have to be mountains in the direction of the sunrise, somewhat north of east.
It seems more likely that the sunrise was delayed by forty-five minutes rather than an hour and forty-five, since we are not told that the daylight at Hogwarts is really unusually short. This suggests that when Harry thought it was nearly 4am he was using BST (that is, the sun rose at 6:15am by BST, 5:15am by GMT).
[This does not prove that the school itself was using BST. We see the staff and students gather just before midnight according to the school's concept of time, and then a series of events - finding the diadem; the burning of the Room of Requirement; the battle; Fred's death; Snape's death; Harry viewing Snape's memories - occurs between then and Harry thinking it is nearly 4am, but it is not clear whether four hours have passed, or three. On the whole I think it seems more like three hours, which would mean Harry's watch was still set to BST but the school was using GMT.]
If we take Kintail as our starting point, and say that the sun rose forty-five minutes late on or around 4th May 1998, forty-five minutes after official sunrise the sun was at about 5° of altitude above the horizon and 22° north of true east, and heading south. At official sunrise it was at 31° north of east. For the sun to rise forty-five minutes late, then, there has to be a mountain the eastern edge of which obscures the sky at about 5° of altitude above the horizon and 22° north of true east, and the northern reach of which extends at least as far as 31° north of east.
It has to be a different mountain, or at least a different peak of the same mountain, from the one which obscures the sunrise at 6° of altitude and 2° south of east in late March, because it does not obscure the sun's path on 4th May any further east than 22° north of east. By the time the sun on 4th May reached 6° of altitude it was at 21.5° north of east, and when it reached 2° south of east it was at about 20° of altitude - quite high in the sky - so it could soar comfortably over the top of the more easterly mountain so long as it wasn't enormously high.
Meanwhile, a flourishing black-market trade in aids to concentratiion, mental agiility and wakefulness had sprung up among the fifth-and seventh-years. [OotP ch. #31; p. 624]
'As you can see,' Professor McGonagall told the class as they copied down the dates and times of their exams from the blackboard, 'your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks.' [OotP ch. #31; p. 625]
Their final exam, History of Magic, was not to take place until that afternoon.[cut] The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock [OotP ch. #31; p. 639]
Think, he told himself, his face in his hands, while all around him quills scratched out never-ending answers and the sand trickled through the hour-glass at the front ... He was walking along the cool, dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries [OotP ch. #31; p. 640]
'But ... Harry, think about this,' said Hermione, taking a step towards him, 'it's five o'clock in the afternoon ...' [OotP ch. #32; p. 645]
The din of loud voices and the clatter of cutlery on plates echoed from out of the double doors to the Great Hall [OotP ch. #33; p. 662]
[cut] they burst through the topmost branches of the trees and soared out into a blood-red sunset. [cut] They were over the Hogwarts grounds, they had passed Hogsmeade; Harry could see mountains and gullies below them. As the daylight began to fail [OotP ch. #34; p. 675]
When they rode the in OotP, sunset definitely appeared to be very early - really improbably early if they were using BST. We know that this event was three to four weeks into June 1996, because it was at the end of OWLs, OWLs occurred in June and took two weeks, and they did not start right at the beginning of the month. A great deal of revision-related activity is described after the start of June, both in class and out of it, indicating that the OWLs didn't start until a good week into June. In real life the 1st of June 1996 was a Saturday, and there was just too much going on after the start of June and before the OWLs started for them to have started on Monday 3rd. If they indeed start on a Monday - which we don't know - they would have to have started on Monday 10th, and the last day of the OWLs would have been Midsummer, Friday 21st. On the last day of OWLs, Harry had the vision of Sirius in Voldemort's hands. He told the others about it at five 'clock. There followed a long conversation, the raid on Umbridge's office and then the confrontation with Umbridge, after which they led Umbridge out to the Forest. As Harry was starving, and he had his first detention with Umbridge at five o'clock, he headed straight for dinner without dropping off his bag in Gryffindor Tower so that he could bolt something down before facing whatever she had in store for him. [OotP ch. #13; p. 237] 'Less than zero,' said Harry glumly, tipping lamb chops onto his plate and starting to eat. [cut] At five to five Harry bade the other two goodbye and set off for Umbridge's office [OotP ch. #13; p. 238] At that point people were still at dinner in the Great Hall, and we know that dinner starts well before 5pm, so it was unlikely to be later than half past six, or perhaps 7pm at the absolute outside, if dinner was extended to celebrate the end of exams. They lead Umbridge to the Forest, provoke the centaurs into taking her, discuss the situation and make contact with the Thestrals, at which point it can't be later than 8pm unless you invoke some sort of time-slip. Yet, when they mount the Thestrals, we're told the sun is setting, or nearly so. On or about midsummer 1996, in Scotland, the sun should have set at about 9:20pm GMT if they are in the Highlands, or just after 9pm if they are in Galloway: an hour later by BST. Yet even if we assume that that "blood-red sunset" still had quite a way to go, the sun obviously set no later than 8:40pm at the absolute outside. To summarize: On 6th June 1994 (the day they rescued Sirius and Buckbeak), the sun set at Hogwarts around 9:30pm, by whatever measure of time the school was using. The timing of sunset that day relative to a level horizon would have been around 9:10pm by GMT or 10:10pm by BST. Since the sunset was out either way, we do not yet know whether Hogwarts was low down relative to the visible horizon, seeing the sun set forty minutes early (by BST) behind a mountain, or high up watching the sun set twenty minutes late (by GMT) at the bottom of a long downwards vista. On or around 21st June 1996 (the day they flew the Thestrals to the Ministry), the sun set at Hogwarts no later than 8:40pm, by whatever measure of time the school was using. The timing of sunset that day relative to a level horizon would have been around 9:20pm by GMT or 10:20pm by BST. Since it is more credible that the surrounding mountains caused the sun set forty minutes early, rather than an hour and forty minutes, we can surmise that the school was using GMT, and we can definitely assume that there are mountains between Hogwarts and the midsummer sunset - which in turn implies that the school was using BST on On 6th June 1994, and that the sunset that day was also forty minutes early. That the sunset was brought forward by the presence of intervening mountains is confirmed by the fact that once Harry and co. are on Thestral-back, and high above the ground, they see the daylight as only beginning to fail, at least some minutes after witnessing sunset from lower-down. On or around 4th May 1998 (the morning Snape and Voldemort both died), the sun rose at Hogwarts at around 6:15am, by whatever measure of time Harry himself was using. The timing of sunrise that day relative to a level horizon would have been around 4:30am by GMT or 5:30am by BST. Since it is more credible that the sun rose forty-five minutes late, rather than an hour and forty-five minutes, we can surmise that Harry was using BST. We don't know whether the school was or not, and it doesn't really matter for present purposes (although for fanfic purposes it makes some difference: if the school was using BST then a little over four hours elapsed between Snape being driven out of the school and his death; if GMT, three hours). The idea that Hogwarts is in a high mountain pass looking down is an attractive one, but unfortunately it doesn't work. If we take a point in or near Kintail at the southern end of the west Highlands (a likely location for Hogwarts if it is in the Highlands at all) as our starting-point and example, on or about 21st June 1996 (the day they flew the Thestrals to the Ministry) the sun should have set on the true horizon at about 49° north of west. But we know it set no later than 8:40pm, and at 8:40pm it would have been at about 41° north of west. This tells us that there has to be a mountain which interrupts the sun's path at about 41° north of west and continues around the horizon at least as far as 49° north of west, otherwise the sun would have reappeared again from behind the mountain before setting. This would be a noticeable phenomenon were it to occur, and yet it is never mentioned, so we can presume it probably doesn't occur. On 6th June 1994 (the day they rescued Sirius and Buckbeak), the sun would have set on the true horizon at about 47° north of west; or at least, where the true horizon would be if it were level with Hogwarts. We know it set either forty minutes early (if they were using BST), or twenty minutes late (if they were on GMT). If the sun set twenty minutes late, it would have been at about 52° north of west when it finally disappeared from view. But since we know there is a mountain obscuring the true horizon from 41° to at least 49°, that means that if the sun were to cross the notional true horizon at 47°, and then be visible down a slope up to 52° north of west, it would have to have passed behind that mountain and then come out again. There is no suggestion that it does so. So, we must conclude that the sun in fact set early, and that Hogwarts was using BST in 1994. Forty minutes before official sunset the sun would have been at about 39° north of west. We've already established that the mountain to the north west probably starts at about 41° north of west (and continues to at least 49°), so then we can say, sunset on the day they saved Sirius and Buckbeak was probably a little after 9:30pm, at or soon after 9:40pm BST. So the sun in fact set half an hour early, not forty minutes. This is assuming that the school is at the southern end of the Highlands; if it is further north or further south the azimuth on these days will also move a few degrees further north or south, but the basic principle remains the same. In order for the sun to set about forty minutes early due to an intervening mountain on 21st June 1996, and yet set twenty or thirty minutes late on 6th June 1994 because the school was looking down at the sun from a height, the sun would have to have passed behind the mountain and then emerged lower down on the other side, and such a noticeable phenomenon is never mentioned. Therefore, we can assume it set early on both dates, and that the school was using BST in 1994. We still don't know whether the school and village are themselves high up, but we know that they are looking up at a higher point, not down at a slope, to the north-west. We can also tell that the western side of the mountain to the north-west is pretty steep. We have the sun disappearing at around 41° north of west on both days, yet on 6th June 1994 when the sun was 41° north of west it was at about 2.5° of altitude above the horizon, and on 21st June 1996 when the sun was 41° north of west it was at about 3.4° of altitude above the horizon. If the side of the mountain formed a shallow incline, the sun's path on 21st June 1996 should have passed behind it slightly further north than on 6th June 1994, because of being a bit higher in the sky (because closer to midsummer) and therefor intercepting the mountain a bit further over and along its slope. But the sun on the two days seems to have disappeared at about the same compass direction, despite one sunpath being almost a full degree (twice the apparent diameter of the sun) higher than the other. So the mountain must be almost vertical at that point. So, we are left with the school definitely using BST in 1994, and definitely using GMT in 1996, and with Harry using BST in 1998 but it's not certain that the school itself was. We know that there is a mountain which obscures the horizon to a point at least 3.5° of altitude above the horizon at a point 41° north of west, and extending around the horizon to at least 49° north of west - give or take a few degrees, depending on the exact position of Hogwarts itself. And since we know that when the sun set on 6th June 1994 at about 41° north of west, it set behind the Forbidden Forest, we know that seen from Hogwarts the Forest extends at least as far north as 41° north of west. The same logic confirms that the school has to have been using GMT in 1996. If it had been using BST that would mean that on or about 21st June the sun set an hour and forty minutes early, at which point it would have been at nearly 10° of altitude and 29° north of west, so there would have to have been a mountain whose west face crossed the sun's path at that point and to that height. But on 6th June 1994 when the sun was 29° north of west its altitude was only 9°, so it would have had to have passed behind such a mountain at that point - and that wouild mean it would have set that day at 7:40pm GMT or 8:40pm BST, and we know it didn't set until about 9:30pm. So we know that in 1996 the school was using GMT, and the sun indeed set forty minutes early, not an hour and forty minutes. The sun consistently sets around forty to forty-five minutes early, which gives as an idea of how high (or close) the mountains in that direction are.
We know that this event was three to four weeks into June 1996, because it was at the end of OWLs, OWLs occurred in June and took two weeks, and they did not start right at the beginning of the month. A great deal of revision-related activity is described after the start of June, both in class and out of it, indicating that the OWLs didn't start until a good week into June.
In real life the 1st of June 1996 was a Saturday, and there was just too much going on after the start of June and before the OWLs started for them to have started on Monday 3rd. If they indeed start on a Monday - which we don't know - they would have to have started on Monday 10th, and the last day of the OWLs would have been Midsummer, Friday 21st.
On the last day of OWLs, Harry had the vision of Sirius in Voldemort's hands. He told the others about it at five 'clock. There followed a long conversation, the raid on Umbridge's office and then the confrontation with Umbridge, after which they led Umbridge out to the Forest.
'Less than zero,' said Harry glumly, tipping lamb chops onto his plate and starting to eat. [cut] At five to five Harry bade the other two goodbye and set off for Umbridge's office [OotP ch. #13; p. 238]
At that point people were still at dinner in the Great Hall, and we know that dinner starts well before 5pm, so it was unlikely to be later than half past six, or perhaps 7pm at the absolute outside, if dinner was extended to celebrate the end of exams. They lead Umbridge to the Forest, provoke the centaurs into taking her, discuss the situation and make contact with the Thestrals, at which point it can't be later than 8pm unless you invoke some sort of time-slip. Yet, when they mount the Thestrals, we're told the sun is setting, or nearly so.
On or about midsummer 1996, in Scotland, the sun should have set at about 9:20pm GMT if they are in the Highlands, or just after 9pm if they are in Galloway: an hour later by BST. Yet even if we assume that that "blood-red sunset" still had quite a way to go, the sun obviously set no later than 8:40pm at the absolute outside.
To summarize:
On 6th June 1994 (the day they rescued Sirius and Buckbeak), the sun set at Hogwarts around 9:30pm, by whatever measure of time the school was using. The timing of sunset that day relative to a level horizon would have been around 9:10pm by GMT or 10:10pm by BST. Since the sunset was out either way, we do not yet know whether Hogwarts was low down relative to the visible horizon, seeing the sun set forty minutes early (by BST) behind a mountain, or high up watching the sun set twenty minutes late (by GMT) at the bottom of a long downwards vista.
On or around 21st June 1996 (the day they flew the Thestrals to the Ministry), the sun set at Hogwarts no later than 8:40pm, by whatever measure of time the school was using. The timing of sunset that day relative to a level horizon would have been around 9:20pm by GMT or 10:20pm by BST. Since it is more credible that the surrounding mountains caused the sun set forty minutes early, rather than an hour and forty minutes, we can surmise that the school was using GMT, and we can definitely assume that there are mountains between Hogwarts and the midsummer sunset - which in turn implies that the school was using BST on On 6th June 1994, and that the sunset that day was also forty minutes early.
That the sunset was brought forward by the presence of intervening mountains is confirmed by the fact that once Harry and co. are on Thestral-back, and high above the ground, they see the daylight as only beginning to fail, at least some minutes after witnessing sunset from lower-down.
On or around 4th May 1998 (the morning Snape and Voldemort both died), the sun rose at Hogwarts at around 6:15am, by whatever measure of time Harry himself was using. The timing of sunrise that day relative to a level horizon would have been around 4:30am by GMT or 5:30am by BST. Since it is more credible that the sun rose forty-five minutes late, rather than an hour and forty-five minutes, we can surmise that Harry was using BST. We don't know whether the school was or not, and it doesn't really matter for present purposes (although for fanfic purposes it makes some difference: if the school was using BST then a little over four hours elapsed between Snape being driven out of the school and his death; if GMT, three hours).
The idea that Hogwarts is in a high mountain pass looking down is an attractive one, but unfortunately it doesn't work. If we take a point in or near Kintail at the southern end of the west Highlands (a likely location for Hogwarts if it is in the Highlands at all) as our starting-point and example, on or about 21st June 1996 (the day they flew the Thestrals to the Ministry) the sun should have set on the true horizon at about 49° north of west. But we know it set no later than 8:40pm, and at 8:40pm it would have been at about 41° north of west. This tells us that there has to be a mountain which interrupts the sun's path at about 41° north of west and continues around the horizon at least as far as 49° north of west, otherwise the sun would have reappeared again from behind the mountain before setting. This would be a noticeable phenomenon were it to occur, and yet it is never mentioned, so we can presume it probably doesn't occur.
On 6th June 1994 (the day they rescued Sirius and Buckbeak), the sun would have set on the true horizon at about 47° north of west; or at least, where the true horizon would be if it were level with Hogwarts. We know it set either forty minutes early (if they were using BST), or twenty minutes late (if they were on GMT). If the sun set twenty minutes late, it would have been at about 52° north of west when it finally disappeared from view. But since we know there is a mountain obscuring the true horizon from 41° to at least 49°, that means that if the sun were to cross the notional true horizon at 47°, and then be visible down a slope up to 52° north of west, it would have to have passed behind that mountain and then come out again. There is no suggestion that it does so.
So, we must conclude that the sun in fact set early, and that Hogwarts was using BST in 1994. Forty minutes before official sunset the sun would have been at about 39° north of west. We've already established that the mountain to the north west probably starts at about 41° north of west (and continues to at least 49°), so then we can say, sunset on the day they saved Sirius and Buckbeak was probably a little after 9:30pm, at or soon after 9:40pm BST. So the sun in fact set half an hour early, not forty minutes.
This is assuming that the school is at the southern end of the Highlands; if it is further north or further south the azimuth on these days will also move a few degrees further north or south, but the basic principle remains the same. In order for the sun to set about forty minutes early due to an intervening mountain on 21st June 1996, and yet set twenty or thirty minutes late on 6th June 1994 because the school was looking down at the sun from a height, the sun would have to have passed behind the mountain and then emerged lower down on the other side, and such a noticeable phenomenon is never mentioned. Therefore, we can assume it set early on both dates, and that the school was using BST in 1994. We still don't know whether the school and village are themselves high up, but we know that they are looking up at a higher point, not down at a slope, to the north-west.
We can also tell that the western side of the mountain to the north-west is pretty steep. We have the sun disappearing at around 41° north of west on both days, yet on 6th June 1994 when the sun was 41° north of west it was at about 2.5° of altitude above the horizon, and on 21st June 1996 when the sun was 41° north of west it was at about 3.4° of altitude above the horizon. If the side of the mountain formed a shallow incline, the sun's path on 21st June 1996 should have passed behind it slightly further north than on 6th June 1994, because of being a bit higher in the sky (because closer to midsummer) and therefor intercepting the mountain a bit further over and along its slope. But the sun on the two days seems to have disappeared at about the same compass direction, despite one sunpath being almost a full degree (twice the apparent diameter of the sun) higher than the other. So the mountain must be almost vertical at that point.
So, we are left with the school definitely using BST in 1994, and definitely using GMT in 1996, and with Harry using BST in 1998 but it's not certain that the school itself was. We know that there is a mountain which obscures the horizon to a point at least 3.5° of altitude above the horizon at a point 41° north of west, and extending around the horizon to at least 49° north of west - give or take a few degrees, depending on the exact position of Hogwarts itself. And since we know that when the sun set on 6th June 1994 at about 41° north of west, it set behind the Forbidden Forest, we know that seen from Hogwarts the Forest extends at least as far north as 41° north of west.
The same logic confirms that the school has to have been using GMT in 1996. If it had been using BST that would mean that on or about 21st June the sun set an hour and forty minutes early, at which point it would have been at nearly 10° of altitude and 29° north of west, so there would have to have been a mountain whose west face crossed the sun's path at that point and to that height. But on 6th June 1994 when the sun was 29° north of west its altitude was only 9°, so it would have had to have passed behind such a mountain at that point - and that wouild mean it would have set that day at 7:40pm GMT or 8:40pm BST, and we know it didn't set until about 9:30pm. So we know that in 1996 the school was using GMT, and the sun indeed set forty minutes early, not an hour and forty minutes. The sun consistently sets around forty to forty-five minutes early, which gives as an idea of how high (or close) the mountains in that direction are.
The day after the battle at the Ministry would be on or around 22nd June 1996. The azimuth of the sunrise on the true horizon would have been about 49° north of east (slightly less in Galloway). On that day, Harry observed the sun rising over mountains, seen from Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore's office is about a hundred yards above the surface of the lake (the height of the mound the castle stands on, eight storeys and then the Headmaster's tower itself) so it may see the sun a little earlier than somebody at ground-level would do but the surrounding mountains will still delay the sunrise - we aren't told by how much, but we know that the sun is still seen as rising behind mountains.
So we know that there are mountains, plural, lying north-east of Hogwarts, and they obscure the true horizon at 49° north of east (give or take a few degrees depending on the exact longitude of Hogwarts).
There is no mention of where the sun rises or sets during winter (at which point it should set at around 47° south of west, if it sets at 49° north of west in mid summer, less whatever part of its path has been cut off by mountains), but there are other mentions of its position in high summer and in spring, including the fact that in PoA, in June, the Trio look out of the window of Hagrid's cabin, with the Forest more or less behind them, and see the sun shining on Dumbledore's face as he descends the castle steps - telling us that the sun too is more or less behind them, or to one side at an angle which makes it possible for them to see the sun on his face.
Having said all this, it's true that from the Headmaster's study, in early June, the sun is seen to sink below the horizon. Depending on how you define horizon, that could be taken to mean that there are no mountains to the north-west of Hogwarts. But we already know that that's not true. The Headmaster's office is eight storeys up plus the height of its own tower and of the mound on which the castle stands, but even so it's only going to be about a hundred yards up in the air: by no means so high up that it could see over the top of the mountains. So we must assume that the reference to the horizon here means the visible horizon (that is, the point where the sun disappears behind landscape features), not the true horizon.
The sun was rising properly now; there was a rim of dazzling orange visible over the mountains and the sky above it was colourless and bright. The light fell upon Dumbledore [mid to late June 1996] [OotP ch. #37; p. 728]
Indeed, we see that in OotP the same late-June sunrise, seen from the Headmaster's office, is described as being both on the horizon and behind mountains. So we can say with confidence that the fact that the early-June sunset in HBP is described as occuring on the horizon does not imply that there were no mountains in that direction.
It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, transparent-looking moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest. [30th October 1994.] [GoF ch. #15; p. 212]
There are, however, two points at which it sounds as if the Forbidden Forest might be east of the castle. In one, Harry, looking out of a dormitory window towards Hagrid's house, has to squint against the glare of the early-morning sun, and in another the moon is said to be "already" over the Forest, as if it has risen there. But since the statements about the sun setting behind the Forest are so very definite, I am inclined to explain these two away. Harry squinted into the sun because the sky in general was very bright, as we're told that it was (and morning sun, being low-angle, can get in your eyes even if it's not right in front of you), or because sunlight was reflecting back from Hagrid's windows. The sun would rise slightly north of east in May, which according to my calculations would place it directly behind Harry as he looked at Hagrid's house. And we must assume that in GoF the moon was "already" setting over the Forest. The presence of the moon is in any case a bit anomalous, as moonset that day - 30th October 1994 - was at about 3.30; p.m., and yet it is described as "nearly six" when they are standing on the lawn, still seeing the moon.
As they entered March, the weather became drier [GoF ch. #27; p. 442]
Be at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish & Banges) at two o’clock on Saturday afternoon. [GoF ch. #27; p. 443]
Then, at half past one, they made their way up the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out towards the edge of the village. [cut] The cottages were fewer here, and their gardens larger; they were walking towards the foot of the mountain in whose shadow Hogsmeade lay. [cut] The black dog sniffed Harry's bag eagerly, wagged its tail once, then turned and began to trot away from them across the scrubby patch of ground which rose to meet the rocky foot of the mountain. Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed over the stile and followed. Sirius led them to the very foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks. It was easy for him, with his four paws, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were soon out of breath. They followed Sirius higher, up onto the mountain itself. For nearly half an hour they climbed a steep, winding and stony path, following Sirius' wagging tail, sweating in the sun [GoF ch. #27; p. 451]
We know that Hogsmeade is somewhere to the left of the front gates, and that there is a mountain near the village - close enough for the trio and Sirius to walk to it, and onto it, in about forty minutes (they leave the village at 1:30pm, rendezvous with Sirius at the stile at 2pm and from there are soon at the foot of the mountain), so around two miles out from the Dervish and Banges end of the village. We see them visit Sirius's cave on this mountain in early March, a few weeks before the equinox, at which point the sun would still be rising and setting slightly to the south, and be slightly to the north at midday. The time is only half past one (and it really will be one and a half hours after true noon - British Summer Time doesn't come in until later in the month), so the sun wouldn't have passed back over the east/west midline yet. So the sun should be almost overhead but a little bit north and west, probably more west than north. Sirius's cave must be on the west or north-west side of the mountain, since they are climbing in direct sun and it's unlikely they've gone all the way round to the north face in half an hour.
It's very unlikely that Hogsmeade could be literally in the shadow of the mountain at half past one, unless it's actually at the bottom of a steep-sided canyon. But if Harry is even thinking of the village as sometimes being in the shadow at that time of year, then the village must be either west or east of the mountain, with minor variations to north or south depending on what time of day the shadow falls on it.
On my map the village is south-south-west of the castle. Analysis of the access-routes in and out of the village indicates that to get to the mountain you bear left from Hogwarts towards Hogsmeade, then double back at Dervish & Banges and head right. That would mean that the mountain is either in front of the grounds (as you look from the castle towards the front gates) or slightly to the right. Since Hogsmeade seems to be about a mile from Hogwarts, and the mountain is two miles from Hogsmeade, it must be past the school and to its right, somewhere north-west of Hogsmeade. The Forbidden Forest might well butt up against it: indeed that may well explain what sort of natural barrier there is to prevent entry to the Forest, if and when the Hogwarts wall peters out.
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As they entered November, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel. [PS ch. #11; p. 133]
She looked around at Harry, who was watching Hogwarts disappear from view behind a mountain. Two whole months before he'd see it again ... [PoA ch. #22; p. 314]
[cut] the mountains around Hogwarts were snowcapped [OotP ch. #19; p. 356]
We know that there are mountains around Hogwarts, and Harry sees mountains in the immediate vicinity when the train is five minutes from Hogsmeade station and noticeably going slowly - so probably around three miles out from the castle.
On JK's original sketch-map, the train seems to approach Hogwarts from the west, along the north side of the Forest. On my re-worked, canon-consistent map it's coming from the north, or slightly west of north. Either is an awkward angle of approach for a train coming from England to a point in Scotland. If Hogwarts is in Galloway, the direct route would be to approach from more or less due east; if in the Cairngorms, from the south-west; if in the West Highlands, from due south or south-east. This suggests that the train has to make quite a wide detour around some impassible bit of landscape in order to reach Hogwarts. It could be e.g. an inlet of the sea, but since we are told that Hogwarts is surrounded by mountains, and that it disappears behind a mountain as the train pulls away, probably the detour is around the base or side of a mountain.
The angle of approach suggests that this mountain, around which the train disappears, is north or north-east of the castle. However, for reasons explained further down, it is likely that when the flying Ford Anglia approached the castle it did so heading north, or slightly west of north, and the passengers saw the castle as silhouetted against the skyline, i.e. not with mountains behind it. This means that the mountain which the train rounds is in the north-east rather than the north. It is probably the same body of higher ground down which water flows or seeps to feed the lake.
It obviously lies close to the castle, so the ground rises up on the far side of the station relative to the castle, and we know that from the castle the ground slopes down towards the main gates (i.e. away from the station) and the village. It probably also slopes down from the castle to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and certainly if you go maybe a mile into the Forest the ground starts to drop away ahead of you to a noticeable degree (see sections on the castle grounds and the Forbidden Forest). I suggest therefore that Hogwarts actually sits on a shelf projecting from the base of the mountain round which the train disappears, so that it is significantly lower than the top of the mountain, but still slightly higher than the floor of the glen where the village is.
The mere fact that the train approaches from the north or west at all suggests that there are also obstructions, probably more mountains, more or less south of the castle.
Harry followed her, staggered a little on landing, then straightened up in time to see the gleaming scarlet steam engine pick up speed, round the corner and disappear from view. [HBP ch. #08; p. 149/150]
The reference in PoA to watching the castle disappear behind a mountain, as seen from the Hogwarts Express, is slightly anomalous. We've been told previously both that the new students approaching Hogwarts don't see it at all until they go down the path to the boats, and that seen from the platform, the train disappears around a corner quite rapidly (which tells us that in going round the corner it passes behind something - trees, or a mound of earth - which obscures it from view).
Perhaps it has to do with which side of the train the compartments are on - since the carriages seem to have a corridor down one side and compartments down the other. Perhaps it is that new students are magically unable to see the castle until they have entered the grounds and walked down that tree-shrouded path. Or perhaps it is simply that the castle, despite its many sparkly windows, does not have any large windows or strong lights facing the direction the train comes from, and is therefore visible from much futher away in daylight than it is in the dark. After all, most of their lighting seems to be candle-light.
As for that corner which cuts the train out of view almost as soon as it leaves the station, the train must later clear the obstruction, or perhaps climb above it, so that the area comes back into view until it rounds the mountain. Or perhaps the castle is so much higher than the station that the castle can be seen from the train, and vice versa, even when the train is out of sight of the station. The castle is eight storeys tall, plus towers, and it stands about 80ft above the lake, so it would certainly be possible for there to be quite a long high slope up the path through the pine-trees from the lake to the station, and yet the station still be significantly lower than the castle.
The most major change in layout between JK's own map and mine is in the position of the lake, relative to the castle and the Forbidden Forest. For reasons explained more fully in the section dealing with the castle grounds, in order to fit what we are told in the books the lake has to be much more round the side of the castle, rather than all behind it as it is in JK's sketch, so that it is possible to see the centre of the lake from a position just in front of the main doors of the castle, and to walk past the lake when crossing between the castle and the main gates.
On JK's map, if the flying Ford Anglia crosses the lake, jinks to miss the wall and then arcs over the greenhouses to hit the Whomping Willow, it must have been travelling more or less south-west as it crossed the lake. On mine, it would be travelling probably slightly west of due north.
Either way, the car seems to be quite high up - they see the lake a long way below (although it can't possibly really be a mile below, for reasons explained in the section on basic orientation & layout of the castle grounds), and they are just below the clouds, and angle downwards before nearly hitting the wall. So although they are plainly below the top of the castle (otherwise it couldn't be outlined against the sky at all) they are clearly not far below it. It's not a case of them sitting at the foot of the castle, looking up at the sky. Yet, the castle stands against an empty sky - which means that in the direction the car is facing, whether it be south-west or slightly west of north, there is no mountain behind the castle. There probably isn't one absolutely due north either, or its flank would cut across behind the castle. Harry and Ron see the castle silhouetted on the horizon, which suggests a fairly level skyline behind it.
The fact that they see the castle above them, on the skyline, when they seem to have only just dropped out of the cloud cover, also tends to suggest that the whole area around the castle is high up - although it could just mean the clouds were unusually low.
We know that if you stand on Hogwarts High Street and look towards the turning to Hogwarts, which also means towards the main mountain which looms over Hogsmeade, which we know to be in the north-west, there are mountains, plural, not just one.
There are also mountains beyond Hogsmeade, in the direction of London - which will be south and slightly east, although how much east depends on exactly where in Scotland Hogwarts is. We know this because the Thestrals pass over the castle, then Hogsmeade, then mountains on their journey south.
If the "meade" element in "Hogsmeade" means "meadow", that means that Hogsmeade has an obviously English name - the Scottish equivalent would be Hogslea. This is possible, since Hogsmeade was founded by an Englishman, Hengist of Woodcroft - but since there seems to have been no Woodcroft in existence prior to the 12th C, this almost certainly occurred after the founding of the school. If the village got its name at that point you'd expect it to be more directly named after the school, which must have been the main local institution. It seems to me more likely that the name Hogsmeade already existed, probably the name of a local farm which Hengist used as the foundation for his village, and if so there's no reason why it should have an English name.
Alternatively "meade" may be a corruption of the Gaelic "Meadhanach", meaning "middle one", misunderstood and alterred by Hengist. The "Hog" bit could be derived from the Gaelic "oighreachd", which means an estate or inheritance of land, but "Hough" can also be a variant spelling of "howe", a burial-mound. If the name "Hogsmeade" is a bilingual one, as does sometimes occur in Scotland, it would make sense to think that the hill the Shrieking Shack stands on is an ancient burial mound; "Hogsmeade" means "middle howe"; "Hogwarts" means "Arthur's howe" ("Wart" being an old pet-name for people called Arthur); and there is a third mound somewhere in the opposite direction from the castle.
I show in the essay on the geographical location of Hogwarts that the two most likely locations for Hogwarts/Hogsmeade are either Shiel Bridge in 1978, with two of the Five Sisters of Kintail behind © K A at Geograph Glencoe, from Find a Bunkhouse the Galloway Hills or the West Highlands, especially the area north of Kintail, Lochalsh and Strathglass. The Glen Carron/Glenuaig area is especially suitable because it is little-visited and yet has a railway line, or Glen Affric which contains a surviving fragment of the Great Wood of Caledon, and is close to a mountain which might conceivably have snow on the top on 1st September (a very problematic requirement, since no mountain peak in Britain is above the snow-line, and 1st September is almost the hottest time of year and just after the hottest time). So what would the mountains around Hogwarts look like? Here is a selection of views of mountains in the West Highlands, including the Glen Carron/Glenuaig and Glen Affric areas. Wester Glen Quioch, seen from Gleouraich © Michael Graham at Geograph Rockpool below Beallach Duhb Leac, looking across to the North Glen Shiel Ridge © Chris Eilbeck at Geograph Coire a\'Chaorrain with the mountain Am Bathaich on the right © Bart Horeman at Geograph
So what would the mountains around Hogwarts look like? Here is a selection of views of mountains in the West Highlands, including the Glen Carron/Glenuaig and Glen Affric areas.
This view of Ben Nevis (right), looking east across Glen Nevis at its foot, was taken from the path called Blar a' Chaorainn by Bill Cameron during the week of 29th January to 5th February 2016, and displayed on the BBC's Your Pictures of Scotland section. It gives a clear idea of what Hogsmeade and its environs would be like, with a fairly fertile valley containing a patchwork of fields surrounded by unmodified moorland (what in Scotland and Northern England is called "the moss"), set at the foot of a great mountain and with lesser mountains all around, slightly farther back. Imagine a somewhat larger patch of fields with a medium-sized village on the side away from the mountain, and Hogwarts a short distance from the village, probably sitting on a sort of shelf at the base of one of the lesser mountains, a little way above the valley floor.
The Galloway Hills are lower and slightly softer than the Highlands, but they have the same sort of rolling, velvety appearance. The vegetation is more lush, especially the woodland, and there are more farms in the area than you would get in the Highlands; but Hogwarts could be in the protected area of the Galloway Forest Park.
The Forbidden Forest extends west and north-west of the castle.
There are mountains to the north-west, one of which has a western side which has a steep face visible in profile from Hogwarts, which crosses points 2.5° and 3.5° of altitude above the horizon at 41° north of west. The mountains extend around the horizon to at least 49° north of west.
One of these mountains in the north-west is almost certainly the same mountain which lies about two miles roughly north-west of Hogsmeade. Its foothills start about a mile from the school, and since it is in the same direction as the Forbidden Forest the Forest must abut it. It is probably this mountain which has the steep western face and does most of the occluding of the sunpath, since it is nearest and therefore will loom largest.
Between this north-western mountain or mountains and due north, there is an appreciable gap with no mountains in it. If Hogwarts is itself high up, it may well be looking down a slope in that direction.
There are at least two mountains to the east and north-east of the castle, possibly more, although none due north of it.
One of them has an eastern face which crosses a point in the sky at about 6° of altitude above the horizon and 2° south of true east. Its northern face extends at least as far as 8° north of east. It is low enough not to obscure the sky at 20° of altitude above the horizon and 2° south of true east, or at 6° of altitude above the horizon and 21.5° north of true east.
There is a second one, or perhaps a different peak of the same one, which has an eastern face which crosses a point in the sky at about 5° of altitude above the horizon and 22° north of true east. Its northern face extends at least as far as 31° north of east. Either this mountain extends far enough north to obscure the horizon at a point 49° north of east, or there is another mountain which does so.
The most northerly of this north-eastern group is probably the same mountain which the train rounds as it leaves Hogwarts. The bulk of it is around three miles from the castle. This group of mountains may be the high ground down which water flows or seeps to feed the lake as they are, broadly, at the top of the slope which leads up from the lake and past the station. The castle and its grounds sit on a low shelf at the base of these same mountains.
We know that seen from Hogwarts station there is an obstruction of some sort which cuts the train off from view almost immediately as it leaves the station and turns a corner. Nevertherless the castle is visible from the train until it rounds this north-eastern mountain, so there must be a substantial height differential between the castle and the railway track (with the castle probably but not definitely the higher of the two) so that the two points can be visible to each other past this obstruction.
There are more mountains, plural, more or less in a line between Hogwarts and London, which means they are to the south or south-east. They are probably close-set and difficult to pass, since the train has to swing right round and approach broadly from the north.
There may well be a burial mound at a moderate distance from Hogsmeade, and in the opposite direction from the castle.
