The Princess Bride Locations

Locations Manager(s): Paul Shersby

The Princess Bride Filming Locations:

The film was shot at Lee International Studios, Shepperton, England, with additional locations in rural Derbyshire and Kent. Haddon Hall, once owned by the illegitimate son of William the Conqueror, represented Florin Castle. Medieval Penshurst Place, Hever Castle, Burnham Beeches and the forboding Cliffs of Moher on the southwest coast of Ireland, which doubled for the Cliffs of Insanity, were also among the locations.

The scenes where Westley and Buttercup are running over limestone rocks and grass is shot in the Burren in the West of Ireland. [Thanks to Anna]

The scenes were Westley is catching up to Buttercup and fights Andre were, I think, filmed at Brimham rocks in Yorkshire, England. [Thanks to Gillian]

The poisoned wine contest of wits scene appears to have been filmed at Malham Cove, also in the Yorkshire Dales national park, but some distance northwest of Brimham Rocks. [Thanks to Dean Meservy]

Some of the scenes where they are running across moorland could also be in the Hope Valley/Castleton area at a hill called Carl Wark. [Thanks to Dawn Harrison]

The scene where Westley fights the giant was filmed near 'Fox House' in Derbyshire, roughly 15 miles from the centre of Sheffield.

Where Westley and Buttercup fall down the hill together is in Castleton, Derbyshire [Thanks to neil robinson]

I live in Derbyshire about 4 miles from Haddon Hall, in a place called Matlock. When Wesley fights Andre the Giant the rock he gets pushed onto when he's on Andre's back I'm 100 percent sure that it's at a place called 'Robin Hoods Stride' which is a large outcrop of rocks surrounding a larger rock formation. I took a walk up it this weekend and it all ties in with whats on screen plus it makes sense because all the Derbyshire locations are a matter of miles away. I also think that in the opening scenes when you see Buttercups Farm and all the countryside around it there are a few views of the fields leading down from stanton in the peak which is a small village. [Thanks to Andrew Yates]

In 1986 I was working at Penshurst Place in Kent, and had the pleasure of organising the filming of various sequences for The Princess Bride. We filmed the sequence where Count Rugen and Inigo Montoya fought to the end in the Barons Hall at Penshurst. More time however went into preparing the undercroft, which in the final cut of the film appeared for no more than a second or two, as the two combatants ran through it. The staff at Penshurst spent the next months eating their way through the sackloads of vegetables that were used as props.

Later that year I moved jobs, and ended up at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, a major location for the film. Although the crew had moved on by then, there were certain lasting remnants of their visit, including the remains of the village built below the Castle, and additional bridges that were built over the River Wye.

An additional tower was built on the roof of Haddon Hall, presumably at Rob Reiner's request (apparently to make the 13th Century building look more authentic!) A visiting commercial photographer was sufficiently fooled by this Hollywood addition to photograph the building, with modern addition, and then print 2500 postcards. He came to my office to offer me the postcards to sell in the gift shop, and was mightily perplexed when I took him to the courtyard and showed him that the Tower in the picture was no longer there! Those postcards could become collectors items now! [Thanks to Nick Day]

I worked as a sub contract Plumber while princess Bride was being shot at Haddon Hall, My colleague and I worked on repairing the lead roof and remember the set being built at the rear of the hall. The set was built to make the hall appear to be wider and was built out of wood and a plaster was applied and sculptured to make the final appearance identical to the stone finish of the hall. [Thanks to The Plumber]

The footage of Buttercup and her captors scaling the Cliffs of Insanity was filmed at the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Ireland; the top of the cliffs was filmed at C Stage at Shepperton Studios. [Thanks to The Location Hunter]

The Fire Swamp was filmed at H Stage of Shepperton Studios; it is the largest stage at Shepperton Studios, and was once the largest shooting stage in Europe. [Thanks to The Location Hunter]

The framing story scenes, with the grandfather reading the storybook to his sick grandson, were filmed on L Stage at Shepperton Studios. They were the last scenes to be filmed. [Thanks to The Location Hunter]

The Sea where Buttercup throws herself into the water and almost gets eaten by the Shrieking Eels - was filmed at H Stage at Shepperton Studios. [Thanks to The Location Hunter]

The interior of Miracle Max's hovel was filmed at M Stage of Shepperton Studios. [Thanks to The Location Hunter]

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