With a range of Tudor, Edwardian and Victorian architecture, the College has provided a filming backdrop for a plethora of high-profile productions including several seasons of The Crown, Les Misérables, Anatomy of a Scandal and many more

Historic Winchester College was founded in the late fourteenth century and has existed in its present location ever since. We spoke to Events Manager Emily Cordier about all that is on offer to filmmakers at the beautiful campus, and how the College can easily double for other backdrops.

When was Winchester College first opened up to filming?

We have been delighted to welcome a broad range of productions to Winchester College, going as far back as the early ‘90’s, when part of a Ruth Rendell drama was shot here. Incidentally, this was the first of two productions to shoot scenes depicting someone falling from a College building – the second of which was a pivotal sequence in Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal, shot here in 2021.

Can you tell us about some of productions that been filmed since, and if the College doubles for other backdrops?

Most recently, we were delighted to welcome back The Crown, for their sixth and final season, where the College was used to represent imagined areas of Eton, as it has periodically done since the very first series.

In 2021, under stringent Covid measures, we provided locations within the medieval part of the campus for Anatomy of a Scandal. Here the College cloisters were used to double for parts of Oxford University, to great effect. The founder of Winchester College, William of Wykeham, was also the founder of New College, Oxford.

As a result of this shared architecture, there are seamless transitions from our own Cloisters to those in Oxford. There are several venues within the school, such as our medieval dining hall, College Hall, which also shares a great likeness to its counterpart at New College.

For Les Misérables, our smaller Chantry Chapel and Cloisters were used as the beautiful location in the final scenes where Valjean dies, although this was of course doubling for a French monastery.

Our campus offers a diverse range of locations, from medieval to contemporary, and as such is well worth a recce. We often find crews discover areas of the College they were not previously aware of, or hadn’t considered prior to their visit. We welcome recces throughout the school year, and not just in holiday periods.

What is the notice period for filming?

We have worked with a wide range of productions over the years, from commercials and news segments up to big-budget features (incorporating day and night shoots). While we are usually restricted to hiring locations outside of school term time (depending on the location required) we welcome all enquiries and will always endeavour to facilitate a shoot here.

Can you describe some of the heritage buildings and outdoor spaces that are also available for filming?

The College Chapel, dining hall, Cloisters and Chamber Court date from the early 1390s. Moving beyond the medieval heart of the school are examples of Victorian and Georgian architecture, progressing all the way up to our brand new sports centre which opened less than one month ago.

The College is also proud to own the largest private war memorial in Europe, which was built at the end of WWI to commemorate those who died, and have since died, in military conflict.

Winchester College is also the owner of 8 College Street, the house where Jane Austen lived her final days. The house, and an exhibition about Austen, will be opening to the public for the first time next summer.

What kind of auxiliary facilities are available for crew?

Winchester College has the unique advantage of being a large 250-acre private campus, within a city-centre location, just minutes from the M3 and within one hour of several London-based studios.

Within our grounds are many adaptable venues/spaces which allow productions to keep all infrastructure within the campus, avoiding the need to shuttle cast and crew to and from a separate unit base.

We have various large internal spaces, which can be (and have been) utlilised as crowd-holding, hair & make up and costume areas. Externally, we have three large marquee sites, which can be used similarly, or provide space for crew dining. We have many large fields, easily accessible from the M3, which can be used as unit and/or tech bases.

As a school, we are used to catering for large events (from term-time school functions up to large-scale wedding receptions) and we would welcome any enquiries related to crew catering during your time on site.

We would strongly encourage recces of the campus, ideally with as much notice as possible, so that we can best accommodate your shoot.

Points of interest

While crews may prefer the convenience of the Winchester hotels to a traditional school boarding house with shared dormitories, it is worth noting that by 2026 the school will have two new boarding houses, all with single occupancy, ensuite rooms.

This more contemporary accommodation may be a cost-effective consideration for any production looking to overnight their crew!

With many thanks to Emily Cordier, Events Manager, Winchester College, for her help in compiling this article.

All images via Winchester College unless otherwise stated.