The Crewe Arms: Inspiration for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts?
The Crewe Arms: Inspiration for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts? by Charles E S Fairey & Michael C Oakes May 2020 At the Crewe Arms Hotel, opposite Crewe Railway Station, in the South Cheshire town of Crewe, in the UK, exists a Coat of Arms of the Crewe Family, upon a marble fireplace, in the main Entrance Hall to the Hotel. The reason this Coat of Arms is interesting to all Harry Potter fans, is the distinct possibility that it was used as inspiration for the Harry Potter novels, especially for the Houses of Hogwarts School! The Coat of Arms on the Marble Fireplace to the Entrance of the Crewe Arms Hotel The Coat of Arms itself is a quartered shield, and is surmounted by a closed vizored helm[et] of steel, sideways, which indicated that the coat of arms was for an esquire or gentleman. The quartered Shield is made up of:- Top Left: A Lion Rampant This coat of arms represents the basic arms of the Crewe Family, namely ‘Azure a lio