Hogwarts: JKR's Map

"This is Jo Rowling's drawing that she executed in just a few minutes...she had a very, very exact and precise understanding of her world...she knew exactly the relationship between all the elements..."
     -- Stuart Craig (PA/DVD)

This map is a quick sketch, as Stuart Craig mentions on the PA/DVD. It is amazing how closely it matches the map which I drew for the Lexicon from the references in the books. Clearly Jo had the map in her mind as she wrote, since the descriptions in the books gave me the exact same arrangement of the various elements, with a few notable exceptions. The most important difference is that Jo put Hogsmeade on the opposite side of Hogwarts than I did.

Hogwarts & Environs

This map was drawn by El Cronista de Salem from Jo's sketch.

Hogwarts and environs

This map shows one possible arrangement for Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade. The general relationships are most likely correct--for example, we know that the Lake is located to the south of the castle and that the Hogwarts front doors face more or less to the west. We are also told that the Quidditch Pitch and the Forbidden Forest are on opposite sides of the castle from each other, and since Harry sees the setting sun shining on the windows of Hogwarts as he leaves the stadium in SS, I put the stadium to the west. The location of various shops in Hogsmeade is based simply on which order Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited them, which admitedly isn't all the much to go on. The exception to this is Dervish and Banges, which we know is pretty much the last one down the High Street before it runs out into the country.