Where is New Asgard? St Abbs, Scotland
St Abbs in Berwickshire in southeast Scotland is the filming location for the fictional village of "New Asgard", in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Being a massive fan of the Marvel movies (up until Avengers: Endgame at least) I was keen to find out where the scenes for New Asgard were filmed. I had assumed Norway, as in the film, we are told the village is located in Tønsberg, Norway. However, to my surprise, I found that New Asgard was actually located in southeast Scotland in the town of St Abbs on the Scottish Coast.
What is the back story for New Asgard?
Please note some spoilers here if you have not seen any Marvel movies.
Going back some years in the Marvel movie franchise, in the film Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) experiences a vision warning him of Ragnarock - the destruction of his home, Asgard.
What is Asgard?
Asgard is a fictional city/land based on a higher plane of existence. The people of Asgard regard themselves as Gods and are stronger and more resilient to physical damage than humans.
Thor's premonition comes true during the film Thor: Ragnarok, and Asgard is destroyed at the end of the movie. Luckily the majority of the Asgardians escape on a spaceship and survive complete annihilation. Unfortunately, the Asgardians are attacked in space during the next film Avengers: Infinity War and many are killed.
New Asgard
In Avengers: Endgame, we see the remaining Asgardian refugees have been permitted to begin a settlement on the planet Earth in Tønsberg, Norway. The first appearance of New Asgard during the film is when Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) and the Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) visit Thor's settlement to advance the movie's plot.
Filming in St Abbs / New Asgard
The lead-up sequence to St Abbs had heavy CGI, showing new Asgardian buildings being constructed, and the Scottish buildings replaced with more Norweigan style buildings to fit the location better.
Cyrus House near the harbour was repainted and branded as the "Cormorant & Tun" pub, and replaced most of the local signage with "New Asgard" equivalents. Businesses that could no longer operate were well compensated, and the stars of the film spent a lot of time with the local community.
The sequence of Hulk and Rocket parking on the harbour wall to meet Valkyrie is actually impossible as there is no where for their pick up truck to have come from. The director obviously just liked that angle thinking no-one would notice.
Producers of Avengers: Endgame awarded the lifeboat station a "generous" donation as thank you for disruption during the filming process; it was renamed "New Asgard Marine Station".
Avengers: Endgame went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time ($2,797,501,328) and the peak moment of the Marvel cinematic universe.
New Asgard will again be featured in the upcoming "Thor: Love and Thunder", due for release on the 8th of July 2022.
Which celebrities were on-site at St Abbs / New Asgard?
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Chris Hemsworth as Thor.
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Mark Ruffalo as Hulk / Bruce Banner.
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Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie.
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Bradley Cooper did not visit as he was a purely CGI character and supplied the voice only.
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Korg (Taika Waititi) and Miek the Sakaaran gladiators were again CGI only characters.
Irn Bru in Avengers: Endgame
Scotland's other national drink - Irn Bru - appears in Avengers: Endgame when Hulk and Rocket enter Thor's new Asgard home. Thor is playing Fortnite with Korg and Miek (who is eating pizza). The 500ml bottle of Irn Bru can be seen on a table in the background.
St Abbs - a quaint fishing village
Originally called Coldingham Shore, St Abbs was renamed after a rocky promontory to the north of the village and the saint - St Æbbe - in the 1890s. It is an idyllic fishing village with a population of around 1000. It's easy to see why it was chosen as an Asgard location; amongst the green rolling hills and choppy seas, it looks quite unique and lends itself well to filmmaking.
A walk down to the thriving fishing harbour will reveal lobster boats and great views back towards the village - great for photography.
St Abbs visitor centre
The village's northwest has an excellent visitor centre run by enthusiastic staff. Here you can find out more about St Abbs and the visit from the film crew in May 2017. There is even a Thor's hammer prop you can use to get the perfect selfie!
The gift shop here has many great items, including a "Thanos hand" (Infinity Gauntlet) and many other things related to the Avengers movie and the town itself, including behind the scenes photos.
Tourism at St Abbs
St Abbs itself has now been twinned with "New Asgard", a nice call back to the film and now a major tourist attraction for Avengers fans. A New Asgard sign overlooks the village reading "St Abbs twinned with New Asgard". An excellent destination for Marvel fans.
Diving near St Abbs
The area around St Abbs, especially Eyemouth, is very popular with divers as the sea is very clear and visibility good. Shore diving is possible here with many great spots along the coast. A few local businesses offer diving:
St Abbs Head Nature Reserve
Known as a "seabird city", the clifftop vantage points give excellent views of puffins, kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills and guillemots nesting over this dramatic stretch of coastline.
Grey seals also frequent these shores, and baby seal pups can often be seen at St Abbs Head. Please keep quiet here and do not approach the seals.
St Abbs Lighthouse
Built on the southern entrance to the Firth of Forth, St Abbs Lighthouse was built in 1862. The waters near St Abbs head are a hazardous area - the ship "Marello" sank here after hitting the rocks in 1857. This lighthouse was designed and built by Thomas and David Stevenson, the father and uncle of Robert Lois Stevenson's famous writer, and author of Treasure Island (1883).
St Abbs Memorial
On the 14th of October 1881, hurricane Euroclydon violently struck the southeast coast and mercilessly destroyed 19 fishing boats at sea. The disaster left 263 children without their fathers and widowed 73 women.
A beautiful memorial stone/sculpture stands overlooking the bay at St Abbs, created by Jill Watson. Another three of her sculptures can be found in Cove, Eyemouth and Burnmouth, all of the communities affected by this terrible disaster more than 100 years ago.
Walks near St Abbs
There are a few fabulous walks from St Abbs through the St Abbs Nature Reserve.
Pittico Wick bay
Walking along the coast to the north, past Horncastle Bay and St Abbs Head you can find Pettico Wick Bay. There are some interesting geological features here. If you walk to the edge of the pontoon you can get a great view of the angular folded rocks.
Coldingham Bay
Walk for 10 minutes along the coastal path to the south, there is a pretty beach lined with beach huts. This is a surfers paradise.
Berwickshire Coastal Path
This 30-mile long path extends from Cocksburnspath in the north, all the way down to Berwick- upon-Tweed in neighbouring England. St Abbs is nearly halfway through this walk.
Isle of Eroda
Harry Styles of the boy band "One Direction" filmed a music video at St Abbs in 2019. The music video outlines the fictional Isle of Eroda located between Scotland and Northern Ireland. I'm not really a fan but it's a quirky wee video filmed at St Abbs.
FAQs
Where to eat in St Abbs?
Ebbcarr's Cafe is an amazing wee place near the harbour with outdoor seating available. The menu does lean more toward seafood with amazing Cullen Skink on offer, but there is something for everyone here. Check out their food gallery here.
Where to stay near St Abbs?
How to get to St Abbs?
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By Car: If travelling along the A1, St Abbs is only a 15 minute detour. Head to Coldingham or Eyemouth and then onwards to St Abbs. It will take you around 1 hour to travel from Edinburgh, or 90 minutes if coming from Newcastle.
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Public transport: If coming from Newcastle or Edinburgh you can catch the train to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Next take the 30 minute bus journey from Castlegate bus stop to Northfield Farm. Walk the road to the east for 10 minutes to reach St Abbs.
See the location map and link at the very bottom of this article.
Where should I park at St Abbs?
There is parking available near the harbour... but don't park on the actual harbour wall like Hulk and Rocket! Across from Ebbar's Cafe is a reasonably large car park with about 30 spaces. This is a paid car park that costs £1 per hour, or £7 for over 6 hours. If you can find a parking spot further up the hill, you can save some money if you plan to stay longer than an hour. Only coins are accepted.
Conclusion
It's incredible that this small fishing village in Scotland would achieve such fame on the world stage as the real life New Asgard location. Look out for St Abbs again in the upcoming "Thor: Love and Thunder" due summer 2022.
St Abbs would make a good area of the Scottish Borders to explore on your trip to Scotland, especially if you are a Marvel fan!
Further reading:
All information was correct at the time of writing, please check things like entry costs and opening times before you arrive.
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Comments:
John Edwards
10th of August 2023 @ 19:10:30
Hi Chris, I live up the road from St Abbs, camped there in 2008 with a friend I was visiting, much later we moved to Scotland having just spent 6 years in London, what a contrast. we finally moved to Edinburgh in 2011 and moved to Belhaven, Dunbar (Great walks) in 2018, and finally to Ayton in 2022. We have been exploring this beautiful area and quite agree with you, Scotland and its people are awesome. On another topic, I listened to your tracks, it's a pity you stopped playing, who knows where you could have ended up, well maybe that's why you stopped playing.