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An interesting thread, thanks Tim and Struppi for sharing your research. Looks like you might have a thesis on your hands!

A few years ago I was working on something similar, although I concentrated more on the grounds and outside appearance of the Hall (I didn't get as far as studying the internal structure). I compared a lot of the vistas of the hall and grounds to see if I could build a clearer picture of the layout of Marlinspike, and construct a map from the available data (I realise that there have been maps made already, but none of them are quite right so I thought I'd have a go myself!)

One of the problems with mapping the area is working out which way the images are actually facing; it's not always possible to know from which angle you are looking. Also, thereâ's only a limited amount of images to go on, and certain details change, so it becomes guesswork. I think the only rule you can apply is, if someone is going off to the right (like Tintin chasing the reporters to the gap in the wall in The Castafiore Emerald), you have to assume that it would be to the right of the Hall if you were facing it. And vice versa, if they're coming in from the left (like through the side gate shown in The Calculus Affair) then it would be to the left.

I didn't get a map made, but I was content to make comparisons and write a few notes on certain things that stuck out. I was intrigued by a number of things, a few of which I'll mention here (some of which has already been touched upon...)

When the Hall was owned by the Bird Brothers it looks as if there was a hedge running along the left side, which you can see when Max Bird drives his car right past the side of the Hall in The Secret of the Unicorn (I'm assuming that he drives off toward the direction of the gate). The hedge is gone by the time of The Seven Crystal Balls (see page 3, and other views).

I noticed that a number of trees and bushes sometimes appeared, disappeared, or changed position, by comparing similar views of the Hall throughout the books. In some cases it's to serve the plot - for example, there's "Abdullah's bushes", fairly dense shrubs that are seen along the pathway in The Red Sea Sharks, and there are also the trees that the drunken Marlinspike Brass Band musicians bump into in The Castafiore Emerald, which are much nearer the edge of the main drive than they are in other view.

In The Calculus Affair it looks as if Haddock experimented with a pair of fir trees at the corners along the front drive. You can see them clearly in the very first panel of the Tintin Magazine version – which is not used in the book - and they're also in the first panel on page 14.

I am also quite intrigued by the paths and side gates around the Hall. The Calculus Affair shows the aforementioned side gate, and they appear to enter by the same gate on their return from The Red Sea Sharks adventure (page 60), but are there any others? It was always a dubious theory, but at first I thought that the milk float incident (The Calculus Affair page 11) might occur at a different gate to the front gate, possibly a back gate? The pathway that Tintin and Haddock run along doesn't have the narrow grass bordering strip that you see in other views. However, if you read on, they walk in through the front gate, and the grass strips are back. Similarly, in the large frame of the sightseers outside Haddock's gate; there's no grass edging strips from this front view (page 13), but there is on the very next panel (page 14) shown from the opposite direction (or is it?). OK, people may argue Hergé or his assistants were not always paying attention to detail, but it has made me wonder...

I also tried to work out how far the wall extends around the grounds. In The Calculus Affair Tintin manages to get to a road by going through a hedge, so not entirely it would seem.

In several of the books, if someone is going to the village we always see a church steeple in the distance (although we never see the village itself in any detail) and it's often accompanied by someone mentioning the village - as in "There's Mr Wagner going to the village". It sounds very obvious, but I thought there was something fascinating about the simplicity of it - the village represented by a steeple – the way it acts as a symbol to guide the reader. The visual clue is a great part of Hergé's craft.



The book Les vrai secrets de La Licorne mentions that Hergé might have been inspired by the discovery of a crypt under the Church of St Gertrude in Nivelles, Brabant. Restoration work was done to the church to repair war damage it received in 1940, and a Romanesque crypt and other tombs were discovered under the church dating from the Merovingian and Carolingian periods (7th-10th century).

Here's an image of part of the crypt

Of course, this doesn't prove that the Moulinsart crypt is Merovingian, but it seems very plausible that Hergé was inspired by a topical event, and it could explain why the crypt looks as if it dates from an earlier period than the Chateau (the groin vaulted ceiling, statue of St. John). It might also be the reason why Calculus is convinced there's a Merovingian tomb in the region (a "Saxon burial-ground" in the English edition), as mentioned by Haddock in The Seven Crystal Balls on page 3.

This is nearly exactly what I think about it.
I agree that no view of the hall makes 100% clear what direction it shows (of course except the direct front view; examples are Castafiore 50, 51). That's why we have to consider that there are always to possibilities of what is right and left - at least as far as I see it.

Let's discuss your Castafiore example with the escaping reporters. Before the chase (p. 13f., right?) starts, we see Tintin close to the house, but don't know, which side(s) and so we don't know whether they run to the right. Either the two sides of the hall we see on p.13 are a) front/right or b) back/left, seen from the front gate. Now we can say, the chase is either going a) to the back/right side of the grounds or b) front/left side. Do we agree here, H'n'R? Now we can go further. It's easiest to follow and, please, control my words, by drawing a rough map. If they escape to the front/left and run straight (probably, they take the nearest way), the gap in the wall should be somewhere in the left front of the grounds. Behind the wall there's a street and to the left a (slight) corner/bend, where the car goes around.
Now compare that to the hints we get on p. 30: Through the cars back window, we see a bend to the right not far from the gate.
If your sketch is similar to mine the two bends might be one, and then those idiots are escaping i a silly way, when we remember what way Tintin always gets TO Marlinspike.
Of course there are several possibilities, how this can be solved. (The whole ground doesn't seem to be a perfect rectangle.)
But it is a good assumption that scenario a) from above is more likely. On p. 13 we see the front and right sides of the hall, the reporters escape to the back and right, where their car is waiting on a street behind the wall leading somewhere (see below and compare with the escape of the Bird brother and the view in Picaros).

And about the Calculus example. There's that second gate in (p.2). Again we don't know, what direction the hall is seen from. Although the view is different from the example before, the path we see here seems to lead a in similar direction as the chase of the reporters took. Or better: one of the two suggested possibilities. Maybe it's more likely that the two scenes show exactly the opposite area. Why use the gap, when a side gate is close? (Ok, maybe because it's not so obvious.) But if this gate then is situated at the front-left side of the grounds, it would maybe be closer to where Tintin always comes from when he comes to Marlinspike. So why does he so often use the main gate? This is difficult. On another hand the way to the hall as on p. 2 is quite long and has some bends. There are many possibilities to situate those places.

Sometimes considering that right-left thing at least the start is clear. Haddock leaves the hall to the right on p. 20 (all Castafiore, all seeing the hall from the front outside). But then the change in time and story from one panel to the next (as Scott McCloud describes it in his books) makes it hard for us to make any further certain assumptions.
Again p. 20: Directly after chasing away from the hall to the right, Haddock gets to Calculus and his gardens. From other views we know, this is not in a straight and direct way to the right of the hall and probably not in the centre front part of the grounds. Secondly Haddock is relaxed in the first panel with Calculus and has prepared his pipe. So we know, there has gone some time between those panels, and Haddock might be at a total different place now which we can not define certainly.

Let's try to make logic assumptions on directions by more scenes. E.g. the one when Tintin catches Wagner out (p. 50ff.): Draw a rectangle again as an easy map of the house with the "blue hall" in it's left wing, mark the ground's main gate to define the hall's front side. The window where the music comes out is clearly on the front side of the "blue hall", actually the second one from the left (see where the piano is placed). Now, Tintin is coming from the left side (last panel on p.50, mark his way on your map).
Now look at the panel before. Is the open window the one seen next to the bush? Then this panel shows the left and front side of the hall. It would be the shortest way for Tintin from where he is right now (we ignore that the path he's on goes to the left; since there aren't any paths from the side in front of the hall, all paths have to lead to the back court and then people have to go around the house to get to the entrance, if there's no back door). Ok, the other possibility is, we see the hall's right and back side here, but then Tintin has to walk with the path to the left, go anticlockwise around nearly the whole house, because he ends at the open window coming from the left! And this would be the less logic assumption, if the blue hall was Tintin's goal. (In my German edition it doesn't get totally clear whether Tintin planned to inspect the blue hall. He just talks about "using the opportunity" that Wagner is out.)
The conclusion might be that the path/bend on p.50 is to the left of the hall and slightly in it's front (and - as I said - that it leads to the backyard). It also seems logic that the path also comes from the left and doesn't meander through the whole grounds to end somewhere on it's right side.

By this way, we might try to map the grounds. I'm game.

Some last remarks on that scene. Which side does Wagner come from on p.51? Is it the same view as Tintin's before? The angle and the bushes at the bend look different. So this path comes probably from the right and the panel's left side is the ground's front side. (The path behind Wagner's hands?) This is fine to me. Wagner has to bring the bike back which he wont do somewhere at the front side (no shelter, to easy to get discovered).
And on p. 53 Snowy's curled action line suggests that he came around the corner, although he's placed exactly in front of the piano-window (where he was 3 panels before). Anyways, the action line might just indicate a dog rotating excitedly.

Try this method to map the parts of the park as in Unicorne ... On p. 48 Tintin escapes to the right and somewhat to the front, I would say. He speaks himself of a "huge park, nearly a forest". When he escapes from the dog, he doesn't seem to zig-zag, but runs quite straight. So there has to be much space to the right of the hall.
He overcomes the threat and leads the bird brothers back to the house. (Nestor talks about the kennel, we don't know where it is, but hardly on the front side. So they come back from the park on the right and probably go behind the house to get rid of the dog.)
Now, where does the scene on p. 52-55 take place? It's not the front side. Anyway it seems to be a longer side of the house:
Nestor speaks about the kitchen window, where he wants to knock Tintin down. (The window is on shoulder level... so much about the idea that the kitchen could be on the lower ground floor. Further I suggested that the only place for the kitchen is behind the main hall (here the room with the staircase :) and so the window is on the back side.) Nestor needs time to run downstairs and in that time Tintin and the villains walk some meters, too long for a short side of the house.
Now if this is the back side of the house, Tintin and the villains come from the right (seen from the front side). Again, welcome to draw a rough map, mark the place just behind the corner and the direction they go to. This is strange. Can't we assume that Tintin chooses the nearest way to the main door (he has to phone and lock the villains)?
But anyways. Haddock comes around the other corner (backmost, left, mark it on your map). Then there are the Thom(p)sons with Nestor, and finally (p. 55) Haddock and Tintin go around the next corner which should be the one to the left side of the building (seen from the front). Then there's some noise, they go back, see the thom(p)sons, run further along the backside again to the right to the corner where the scene started and ...
... and the black Bird brother passes them in his car, continuing straight ahead.
Where is that? If we follow the figures' route as I did, the corner on 52 is likely to be the same as on 56. But the two pictures doesn't fit (H'n'R wrote about the hedge). Not even the succeeding panels on 55 and 56 show the same corner (the path is wider, there's a tree in front of the hedge or not). The narrative structure tells us pretty well, that the corner has to be the same on these two panels (cliffhanger). So, I have no other solution that this is a mistake (Arrrgh! Hergé IS right, he HAS to be. What a disaster! ;)

Anyways again, I think I am right with the direction: We start at the backmost right corner, go first anticlockwise, then clockwise back to the same corner, and Bird drives along the house's right side... and that to the back side. Away from the main gate. Should he drive to the front side, we had to see the stairs somewhere in this scene. And the Thom(p)sons would bring Nestor from elsewhere to the front. But he was in the house and they kept him there and took him with them on their way to Tintin and the others.
(Why does Bird chose that way backwards? Maybe Haddock and the T's locked the gate or something.)

To make it even worse: The figures' route nevertheless is silly: When they start at the right backmost corner, what would be the closest way to the next phone and some room to lock the villains? Not the one Tintin chooses. But even Tintin must be allowed to chose the second best way sometimes.

Two more obvious things:

- As you showed, H'n'R, the outer wall doesn't cover the whole grounds (Calculus, p. 10).
- The area where the Sinti camp seems to be to the right of the hall (Casta, 16). This part of the grounds seems to be huge. On p. 40 Tintin walks through an uneven forest on his way back. It looks also less "park forest" like as e.g. in Unicorne.

Some places of major interest yet to define:

- Calculus' gardens and the park where Haddock tries to escape from the Castafiore.
- Calculus' laboratory. The path to it has many bends.
- What way arrive T + H in Red Sea, 60.
- Where's the place where Tintin and Haddock find the wounded stranger and where Jolyon Wagg hides in Calc, 7ff.? The police car is standing close on a path it could drive on, and Wagg was on his way to his car, probably the outside the main gate. Also the hedge at the outer border of the grounds seems to be close. If we assume all this in the front part of the ground the paths directly at the wall (e.g. Casta, 65 + 61) can be a solution, unfortunately they aren't there just in Calc (11).

And some obvious problems:

- The climbing plant (Castafiore, p. 15f.). It's said to be under the Castafiore's window but never seen again. Especially not where Wagner climbs to the blue hall, which later becomes the solution of the foot prints. Maybe earlier Wagner also/earlier used another window? On the backside where he can't be seen that easy? Why change to the front side then? He could have used the plant because he had not found the ladder yet. We never see the hall's back side properly. Maybe the plant always is there. Maybe the cut it to calm the Castafiore?
- The grass stripe thing described by H'n'R is awful. In time walls can be built and trees and bushes planted or cut, to save my favourite guideline "What Hergé draw IS correct". But here there's no time for that modification. Anyways, the grass stripes (a kind of French garden, isn't it?) are so different all the time... we have to assume and accept, that they get changed several times. Abdullah's bushes (Red Sea, p.13f.) must be named here, as H'n'R did. Awful!

Some words about the area around the grounds:
We see some places outside when Tintin and Haddock have a walk (e.g. the beginnings of Castafiore and Calculus), but they can be placed anywhere.
An interesting hint is the maps in the police office(s) in the same books (Casta, 13 and 47; Calc, 8). Logic would be that the local police has a map of the community there, and not the some other place or the whole country or so. Then we might assume that the two maps show the same area, although their design is different. Then the map in Calc would show the south-east of what we see in Casta. Although we still lack the north, this is nice to have. Maybe one of you searching after real models for Hergé will find this place somewhere in Belgium :D

The village: In Crystal Balls (2) we see the only greater view of the village. Station and church are close to each other. It's definitely small! Nevertheless it's supposed to be the main settlement in the area. Then it should be the place on the map in Casta, 13, over the policeman's shoulder. (Or is the village a smaller part of the community and the police situated in a bigger place? Compare the observations in the other thread about Hergés models.)
Interesting is also the very first frame in Picaros. The hall seems to be situated in a forest. But from inside the ground we see several times plain meadows behind the main gate (e.g. Casta, 57 + 61). So, do we see the hall in Picaros from the backside, so that there's space for those meadows behind? Tintin arrives through the main gate and had to drive around tha grounds then (and aren't there side gates which had to be closer then?). Or are the meadows situated in the forest of the first Picaros-frame and we do see the hall from it's front? Is there enough space?

And last a detail of great investigative dimension: The Castafiore-story takes places in the middle of may. May is mentioned in my German edition on the first page, then the telegram tells us, the Castafiore arrives 16. that month. If I counted the days correctly, Tintin's night walk to the Sinti takes place at May, 22. The moon stands behind the Sinti's camp that evening. And I figured out that the moon arrives Saturn that date. What point of the compass is that then?

Uugh, now I've written much more than I thought. I hope, it will find your interest.

Perhaps for the purposes of discussion it would be better to establish some orientation, at least temporarily, because this right/left thing can become confusing. When I was looking at the Cheverny Hall recently on google maps I noted that it’s almost directly south-facing – so, maybe that would be a useful way to think of Marlinspike, with the Hall facing south, so that when you are entering through the gate you’re heading north (and left is west, right east). Also, south-facing seems a logical direction to build something as grand as a Chateau, allowing more light at the front.


I think the same as you; scenario a) is the more likely – that Tintin was coming to the Hall from the right side, from an easterly direction, before he spotted the reporters and chased them. This is mainly because, as you mention, the reporters would be driving back to the front of the Hall if this happened on the opposite side. Also, on page 16 of Castafiore, when Tintin returns from the small river, near the gypsy camp, he comes in from the eastern side of the Hall again.

And now comes a very important clue! On page 46, whilst being interviewed by the Thom(p)sons at the Hall, Calculus mentions that his pendulum is swinging to the south-east, in the direction of the gypsy encampment. Now, of course, I’ve only just arbitrarily decided on the orientation to accord with Cheverny. But given that Tintin arrives back at the right-hand side of the Hall whenever he visits the camp, we can now probably say with some certainty that this is the eastern side.

I must say, I am stunned by your observation that Tintin’s night walk to the gypsy camp (as well as the TV broadcast, etc) takes place on the 22nd of May! It could only be on Hergé’s birthday! Knowing Hergé’s habit of sneaking his birth date into the adventures, along with his interest in numerology, I’d say this was almost certainly done on purpose.

I hadn’t considered the full moon either, which along with the date you’ve established will be able to give us the actual year too! I used a website to look up dates that the full moon has occurred and it shows that there were only 2 full moons on May 22nd within Hergé’s lifetime; 1959 and 1978. For obvious reasons, I’d say the 1959 date is the more likely.

Anyhow, we’re supposed to be mapping, not dating the adventures! Still, it just goes to show what else can be deduced in the process, and it might be useful for mapping purposes too.


I can think of a couple of reasons. Firstly, I presume you believe the village to be north of the Hall? I’ve always assumed that the village is south-west from the Hall, so by rights if he was walking from the village he would pass a corner of the grounds with a road leading north (up to the western gate) or he could continue along the eastern road to the main gate. If that were the case perhaps the gates are equidistant and he often chooses the main gate out of etiquette (it’s a bit rude to come in from a side gate when you don’t live there).

As mentioned before, Tintin and Haddock do appear to enter by this side gate on their return from The Red Sea Sharks (p.60). This does suggest it’s another way from, or to, the village. It would make sense that Wagner and Tintin come back this way in Castafiore (p.50 & 51) - I think these are exactly the same paths, by the way, even if the bushes and trees are slightly different, it’s from a slightly different aspect after all. Also, the path leads more directly to the Maritime Gallery, which is in the western wing of the Hall.

OK, this path used by Wagner and Tintin doesn’t match with the one in The Red Sea Sharks (60), but perhaps it splits off, or there may be a number of paths sweeping past the Hall.

Now, Unicorn is a problem. I can’t quite get it into my head that Max Bird would escape by driving to the back of the Hall/grounds (everything about the Hall looks different compared to later versions anyway; the pathways directly around the Hall (too narrow?) the brickwork (wrong colour/style?), the side hedge (not even visible in Red Rackham, page 59), the lower basement windows, not to mention the interior, etc…) I think it’s easier to ignore their walk around the Hall and work backwards. Logically, Max Bird would drive in the direction of the front gate (if he drove to the back he might be cornering himself and have to drive all the way round again, by which time Tintin might have been able to head him off at the front gate). This backed up by Nestor who brings Haddock’s whisky from the right-side, or east, where the front door would logically be.


Definitely not, this must be a German problem. In the English edition Nestor says “they’ll pass under the ground floor windows” (it is the same in the French version – the “rez-de-chaussée”). No mention of a kitchen.


Again, is this a German anomaly? Wagner’s footprints were not a result of him climbing through any windows, but because he says he went around to Castafiore’s window himself to check that no one could have climbed the ivy (in both the English and French editions of Castafiore, p. 53).

My feeling is the ivy is on the eastern side wall. For a start, we do not see it in views of the western wall (such as Castafiore, p.50 & 51). As can be seen in the second from last frame on page 15 (viewed from above), Tintin looks as if he is coming from the left side, i.e. towards the eastern side. On page 16 you can see the ivy is right at the corner (if this were the backside Tintin would have had to walk entirely around the Hall to get there). Ok. We don’t see the ivy in the eastern view page 15 (just before he chases the reporters), but perhaps it’s obscured by the bushes?

Quite superfluous, but these are the books, where Marlinspike actually is happening. It's just 6 books.
11. The Secret of the Unicorn: 36-58
13. The Seven Crystal Balls: 1-7, 25-26, 50-53
18. The Calculus Affair: 1-16, 61-62
19. The Red Sea Sharks: p. 4-14, 29, 60-62
21. The Castafiore Emerald: the whole book
23. Tintin and the Picaros: p. 1-11

There are furthermore the photo in Land of Black Gold and the opening scene in Destination Moon.
Did I forget any more scenes?


Then which views do we get of the area, the community around Marlinspike?

There's the walk on the first pages of Castafiore. T&H walk from some pasture land into/through a little forest. Then on the left there's the waste deposit, while on the right there still is forest. Then they get into the/a forest again, but leave the path (a short cut?) and walk through a deeper and darker valley, where they find the Roma girl. The route we've seen might be on the way back to Marlinspike. On the other hand, Haddock is speaking about the weather, likely something to say when you start a walk.
The area in the beginning of Calculus is different, but the pasture land might be the same. He's talking about "his daily walk", so he or they might have a regular route. But the rain comes and they get to the hall. Ligne claire gives us no hint, how wet they are ;) How far have they gone? When they meet Nestor with the umbrella, Haddock says: "... we would have gotten totally wet..." (my grammar correct?), so they aren't yet. If it was the same pasture land, they had to run through the forest in that rain and would have gotten wet. So if it is the same walking route, this part of pasture land has to be situated between the forest and the hall. (Or did they walk the other way round?)

In Calculus you also see the steeple in two succeeding panels. Does anyone manage to define the two perspectives on it and create a map of that area?

The steeple is also seen several times in Castafiore: 47, 50, 58. It serves always as a metaphor for the village as H'n'R attentively describes. But anyway, it is like it is (drawn). So it seems that all roads lead to the village.
The steeple is also seen in the scene when Calculus walks to the village in Calculus, 12-13 (and on the picture on the title, the very first page of the book). Furthermore this street with it's median strip looks bigger than the ones in Castafiore. And we hardly can argue with this one to be newer, because Castafiore is happening after Calculus. So we can ask, which one is the shortest way to the village? Probably the one, Tintin takes by bike in Castafiore, because he's in a hurry. But why does Calculus take a longer way, and one for cars of all things, when he intended to walk, when there's a shorter foot path?
Maybe these are different segments of the closest way to the village, first the path, then the street. I'm not sure, is the fact that we always see the steeple an argument for or against one route consisting of different segments?

The way from the village to the hall we see in Crystal balls is different, too. Well, it could be the same one as Tintin and Wagner take by bike in Castafiore, while the Roma drive on a somewhat more developed one with a milestone. Well, ok, it might also be the same. The Roma-street is grey and looks bouldered, but the one Tintin takes by bike also does, although it's brown. I tend to trust less on colours because it wasn't Hergé doing that. (Ok, as far as I know, he supervised everything, also the colouring, and didn't do all the drawings himself on the other hand, so this is not a proper argument.)

But Calculus walks on another, a proper one. It looks, we talk about at least two or three ways to the village.
Well, it's not necessary the Roma do drive to the village. But then it had to be another identical looking steeple which feels wrong.

Time is also an aspect. In Red Sea, p. 4, it's said that T&H need half an hour from a café in the city to the door of the hall. Went they by car? (In Crystal balls they (Haddock) have a car.) Tintin mostly walks, probably from the station. So, the way from the station to the hall, can not be very long.

And then there's that great first frame in Picaros, where Tintin uses a moped. The way is bouldered as the one the Roma take. Tintin arrives at the grounds - as always - from the left side through the front gate. Remember what we see through the car-window in Casta, 30. Again, on the first frame we see the hall either from it's front, then Tintin had to take a strange route along the street we see in that picture, then far to the left, somehow through the bushes we see, so that his way can lead him to the very left of the grounds around the corner in Casta, 30.
For me, it looks more elegant, if we see the hall from the backside. Then Tintin just follows the bouldered way, which leads him quite straight through the bushes to the then left side of the grounds around the corner to the front side of the wall.
This also fits better with the meadows or pasture land, which we often see from the hall through the front gate.
The question would be, why he always takes the front gate, when he has to go around the whole grounds and there's at least one side gate or even some back gate which the Bird brother takes when he drives to the back side of the grounds.

When I compare all that to the police map of the area in Castafiore, 13, there are just broad orange lines to mark ways and streets. No distinction of the ways. There are the thin black lines which differ e.g. the forest from other areas (pasture?). But thin black lines are the basic structure of those pictures. We don't know whether they mark just borders between semantic items or may mark a path.

On that map there are no place and streets fitting to Marlinspike and it's closest surroundings. So the hall might be in the northern part covered by the speech balloon. We see a little part of the maps upper end beside the balloon, so there's not much space. The same is valid for the map in Calculus, 8. (Here the policeman says: "Hier Polizei Mühlenhof.", so it's the Marlinspike principality and not a superior one farer away, and we know the map shows just Marlinspike area.)
Unfortunately we don't see any railway either. The only sign which could be the railway is the line of streaks and points. But it's course doesn't seem like a railways', and the different blue tones tell us pretty well, it's a community border. So if we assume both the hall and the railway (=> and the station => and the village) are covered by the speech balloon it get's both tight and arbitrary.
Maybe the railway is just not marked. That place where three ways cross, probably a settlement, would be fine as the village, since it's the biggest place we can see.

Well, now I've written nearly all my observations about the house, the grounds and the surrounding area. So I'm probably done with epic posts. Or am I?

Well, possibly not, because you seem to have missed my post made prior to yours! (see post #14). I'd be interested to know what you thought...


Red Rackham, especially the view on page 59, and onwards. Also, the very first double page from the magazine version of Le Temple du Soleil (as pointed out by jock123 in this post), which shows Tintin getting off a bus at the village. There’s a signpost to the Hall showing it to be 3km away. It’s possibly the only positive indicator of the distance from the village to the Hall.

I agree about the possibility of more than one road to the village. However, I’m not sure I agree that the Picaros view (page 1,frame 1) shows the back of the Hall. You said it seems to be surrounded by forest, whilst other views show pastures in front of the Hall. Well, certainly it looks as if there’s a bit of green field in front of the Hall from the view in Castafiore, p.57, but plenty of other views show there to be trees too (see Calculus Affair and Crystal Balls). Look at the Picaros view again. If this were the back it would make the grounds behind the Hall very small. I think there could still be room for a field, or some grass beyond those trees. Also, Tintin is moving uphill, which fits with other views we see of the journey from the village to the Hall. I think the back of Marlinspike may be more expansive, containing the gardens, etc.

According to the policeman in Castafiore p.47, the gypsies had left Marlinspike “within the past few hours”, so it may not necessarily be the Marlinspike village steeple at all.

One other thing; I’d not considered the maps you mention in The Calculus Affair before, but these do not look at all right to me, so I’m overlooking them…. for now!

Back after a week, maybe it will go ahead in this rhythm.

Your observation about the Roma camp in the south-eastern direction is great! And even without that, it would have been a good idea to assume directions to communicate easier. So I follow your suggestion to assume the hall is perfectly facing to the south.
(Although it might be slightly different. We don't know for sure, but it seems that Tintin comes straigth from the right, when coming back from the Roma camp. Then the hall might face rather to the south-west. Furthermore, if the hall did face to the south, south-east would be around where Tintin escapes in Unicorn. But we can't see anything of the path which leads to where the camp later will be. So I assume this path to be north of the district we see in Unicorn. If this route leads straight to the camp, the hall is not perfectly showing to the south.)

Is it possible to deduce a direction from the data about the moon? Tintin came from the hall and the moon is behind the camp. So if the moon can proove the south-eastern direction, it would be perfect.


Well, I wont insist in which direction the village is. Calculus (2) allows to situate the second gate either in the south-west or north-east. And yes, a corner with a fork to each of the two gates makes the south-western theory possible. The way to the village had to „meet the fork“ behind the corner in Castafiore (30).
If the „corner“ has several edges, it could even be possible also to place the gap (14) in the south-west. The wall would look there like the half of a hexagon then, including these two corners. Then the way to the village could lead from the middle part, allowing the escaping reporters not to drive to the main gate in the frames on p. 14.

As you say, the side gate must be a reasonable way to the village, it's not showing to nowhere. To assume the two gates are equidistant would help here.


Right, but there's no evidence. I kindly disagree with these assumtions of yours, H'n'R:


The bushes are totally different. I can't get these two frames into one scheme. Wagner is closer to the („his“) bend on (51) than Tintin on (50) to the one seen there, I think. The Wagner-bushes in front of him, directly right-behind the bend, had to be seen in front of Tintin at „his“ bend, hadn't they? Further the hall looks closer on the Wagner-frame. I don't think, this is one and the same path.
Tintin's path seems to be more to the right side of the hall. But I can't see one path (Tintin's?) lead into the other one, either.
We don't see which way they go from the(se) corner(s) to the hall. We just know, that Tintin comes from the left side (i.e. from south-west) to the front of the Maritime Gallery. I'm fine with assuming, two paths opposite to each other. Tintin may take the shortest way (the one you suggested), while Wagner has to hide and maybe take a longer route. (And in Wagner's case we don't even get the hint with the south-western direction like in Tintin's.)
When I'm right with that, there's not much space left for the ivy. (I just didn't read properly about the footprints. I'm sorry for that.) The last possibility would be to locate the ivy on the north-west of the hall. (We never see that wall properly.) Anyway, you're right that Tintin's position on (15) doesn't fit then. Well, the ivy remains as a problem for me.


Ok, I wouldn't ignore any things we can see. Why not assume a gate on the north side? There's no overview of/from the hall's back. Also if we assume that the whole estate is as symmetric as possible, a northern gate would be ok, when there's one both to the south and west.
You're welcome to proof that my reconstruction of their „walk“ was wrong, but I'm pretty sure, it's right.

Well, north... south... and the Picaros view... I'm not sure about that myself. I'm pretty sure, there's a wide pasture land in front of the hall => to it's south (see Castafiore 57 and 61, on 30 also to the south-west, and behind the gap (14), whereever it is situated). Yes, there are trees, but they seem to be single ones, or it's at least possible to interpret them as such, considering the evidence of wide pasture.


Right. But that wouldn't be any problem. Until now, all cases where longer distances or wider areas have to be assumed within the grounds, both of us situated them (rather) to the east: the Roma camp, the reporters' chase and Tintin's escape in Unicorn. No need for much space in the north. This would also be advantageous for my theory of a car route to a northern gate.

If we see a southern view in Picaros, I'd see the bushes between Tintin and the hall just as a stripe of bushes from the south-eastern corner (close) to the hall to the farer south-west. Then there would be enough space for „my“ pasture land, also to the west (Castafiore, 30).

I wont necessarily deny that Tintin arrives from the village in Picaros (1). Although there's no evidence. Far from it. He's riding a moped, he could come elsewhere. Often a station is not the closest way to reach a certain place. Here, Tintin is able to chose his own way.
Anyways, the decision whether the view in Picaros is the northern or the southern, might also decide about the direction the village is situated.

An argument against the northern-view theory is the our assumed western gate then definetly would be the closer way to the hall. (I doubt, politeness is a strong argument, if the gates aren't equidistant.)
An argument against the southern-view theory is the strange way Tintin had to take from his position in Picaros (1) around the south-western corner in Castafiore (30) to the front gate.

Personally I'm quite glad about the maps at the police station. Since they logically should show the whole principality and now place as Malinspike can be found in the part of the maps we see, the grounds might lie in the northern part of the area and the village probably south of it.

Then you're welcome to delete my assumption on Nestor's remark on the kitchen. I'd say the French edition should serve as the dominant source. Foreign editions/translations might serve as hints, but the French is always right.

And I follow your hint, that the steeple we see on Castafiore (47) is certainly not the one of Marlinspike village.

One more thought about the ivy: It's under Castafiore's window. Now look at the frames showing us the window from inside (15). The window is opposite/parallel to the corridor. And the corridor is likely to be parallel with the longer walls of the house. Hm... ok, after drawing it roughly it would also work with the window and ivy at the eastern wall. But it would be a little odd.

Then I thought about Hergé and his precision. If the two frames on (50,51) were intended to show the same path, wouldn't Hergé have made i pretty clear? Drawing just the same path, maybe slightly changing the point of view? And I insist that the bushes don't fit. Otherwise if it should show two paths, he should have made that clear as well.

Anyway, as you know and might forgive, I'd prefer to assume two paths, because two paths are seen, and the ivy being at the northern wall, because it isn't seen at one of the side walls then, but does comfortable fit to the unseen northern wall and Madame Castafiore's window.
Tintin's position when investigating the ivy might confuse, but he's a human being, he can move, even if it is not the very smartest way.

But then... in front of the hall no paths are seen to come out of the forests from the side. So all paths have to lead to the backyard and via the small path directly around the walls to the front. That works pretty well with the path from south-west and the bend up north. But it's a problem with Wagner's path on (51). It leads quite straight from east in my theory, but takes a bend to the south then. It's definitely not leading to the front of the hall with a new bend to the right behind Wagner and the trees. So if it comes from the east the bend has to be a U-turn and leading back to the forest. Here my approach is challenged. This U-turn assumption doesn't violate other evidences. It's just silly. But anyway possible. Who knows how the paths in the forest are situated? Maybe they were planned to meander through the grounds for it's owners to promenade?

The path we see before Tintin hunts the reporters could be the other end of that U-turn. Here I can refute myself, because Tintin then had to cross "Wagner's path" when chasing the reporters. On (14) Tintin walks back on a path, while most of the chase was through the forest. Where's that path? The chase went quite "diagonal" (north-west) to where Tintin came from (south-east). Did he walk southward from the gap to the south-eastern path to get back to the hall? Quite a detour. Maybe there's another path in the northern part of the grounds.

In direction of the hall the way on (13) has to lead up north first, because it can't lead to the front of the hall. And in every case it's the starting point in direction to the camp. And such a path he always is on when going to or coming from the camp. The camp is situated on a meadow (see 13, 40, 47) surrounded by forest. Then there's the meadow at the beck (16)and the forest valley on (40/41). There's grass all over these places, it seems to be the same park-like forest everywhere. And all frames with paths show that forest around, so all the way between the meadow and the hall seems to be covered with forest. (Maybe except the frame when Tintin leaves the beck. On the right side we can't see any trees. But this would be the point where the path meets the meadow.)

In the night scene it seems that Tintin comes on a/the path, but leaves through the forest/valley, which might be a more direct way. Or is the path a little longer away from the camp and he has to go through the forest both ways? He hears the music on (40), the frame with the fireplace makes it impossible to define how long it took Tintin to get to the clearance.

And, the path doesn't seem to lead anywhere. It's certainly part of a "promenade system", a loop. We might assume a lot of paths with bends and forks.

It's also hard to reconstruct the promenades in the more park/garden-like part (20-25). And where is that, actually?
Haddock starts with his wheel chair to the east, but as we know - due to lack of other paths - he certainly "goes" around the hall to the backyards. Calculus' gardens might be exactly behind the hall. We can very well assume a similar French-garden like part behind the hall as in front of it.
(It would also fit with the view of Max Bird's escape, when I follow up that theory. The hedge is definitely not longer there in the later adventures, so the smooth transition between Calculus' roses and the park where Haddock hides (21) is possible.)

Anyway there still is not much need for wider areas in the north of the hall.

Another thing I wonder about is the laboratory. When Calculus comes from the lab to the hall on Calculus (7), he comes pretty clearly down the front way and not from on of the sides. He'd had to come from the sides actually, because all side ways have to lead to the backyard first. So I always thought about the paths nearly directly at/parallel to the front wall, which often can be seen or at least assumed (Castafiore 56, 57, 61), but unfortunately not in Calculus itself (11), at least not on the left side.

This may be a hint for the theory that the milk incident didn't happen at the front gate? And this again another hint for the norther-gate theory? The gate where the milk incident happens looks (just) similar to the front gate, which is logic for a quite symmetric estate?

To situate the lab somewhere in the front part of the grounds also fits with the thought of it being a former servant's house, which - as far as I know - often are hidden behind vegetation in the front part of an estate. From the hall you'd walk to the front gate, turn e.g. to the right at the wall, leave the wall to some extent (compare p. 14 respectively the fact that we don't see much of the wall on the first pages of Calculus) and finally reach the lab.

The path we see on (7-10) could be the one to the front gate. But actually not, the bushes are to close (any link to Abdullah's bushes?).
It could also be the one I assumed leads from the front gate to the lab, at least on (7 + 8). The police car would then probably park on another one, either still the main way to the front gate or the one of the (western) side gate.
As a problem remains the hedge Tintin creeps through. If both gates are close, there was no need for the assassin to escape through the hedge. Maybe Snowy led Tintin a longer way, but still the gates would have been an easier way to get out.

A great website (in French) with information about the chateau got linked in one of the first posts, which is no longer online unfortunately. However, an archived version of the website can be visited. This may be of interest to future readers of this forum.

[Moderator edited to remove links]

Firstly, I can only apologise for the long-winded pontificating that takes up a large portion of this thread. What a lot of hot air! :-D

However, this would a good thread to mention again that within the recently published magazine edition of Les Bijoux de la Castafiore there is a floor plan of Marlinspike Hall. In this we can see a plan of the ground and 1st floors the house. Hergé had even noted which period decor would decorate the rooms.


I've seen those plans before which show an authentic looking brochure of Moulinsart and includes plans of the floor layout and the grounds. But it doesn't match the layout drawn by Hergé in Les Bijoux de la Castafiore. I don't have them to hand, but I recall that many of the rooms are in different places. I think that all of the bedrooms were on the left side of the building front facing, except Haddock's which is on the right. Castafiore's room is at the back, you can see this when Tintin views the ivy in Emerald.

It's funny to think that Hergé probably hadn't thought too much about where rooms were in relation to each other, until Emerald which was set completely in the house and grounds. And it would be great if a really detailed plan existed, with all four floors; the famous cellars, the extensive attic floors and the grounds. There's always hope that Hergé actually made one but I think to try and map one would be a lot of guesswork.