A Dales hamlet will be seen in cinemas around the world from this week as it takes a starring role in a horror film.

Halton Gill, in Littondale, features prominently in the Hammer Horror adaptation of The Woman in Black, which stars Daniel Radcliffe in his first leading role since the Harry Potter franchise came to an end.

Members of cast and crew were spotted across the Dales while scenes for the gothic ghost story were filmed in the autumn of 2010.

Ahead of the film’s release this week, Radcliffe has spoken of his time in Craven, describing Halton Gill as a “gem”.

He said: “Halton Gill is a complete gem of a village and was the ideal place to film the Crythin Gifford scenes for The Woman in Black.

“The original buildings and stunning surrounding countryside combine to create a timeless quality.”

The movie, based on the book by Susan Hill and with a screenplay by Jane Goldman – wife of TV presenter Jonathan Ross – is due for release in the UK tomorrow.

Halton Gill plays the part of the fictitious village of Crythin Gifford, which, in the original book, was located in salt marshes on the east coast of England.

Despite being miles from the sea, the hamlet was chosen for its remote location and absence of modern developments. Production designer Kave Quinn said finding a suitable village had proved challenging.

“In the 21st century, obviously anywhere we’d find would be busy and full of cars and road signs and newer buildings that needed covering up,” she said.

“We wanted to try to find somewhere that had almost been untouched by time, and the village we found, Halton Gill, was right in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales, so it isn’t anywhere you’d ever pass through. It hadn’t been over-developed – all the houses are original from something like 400 years ago.”

Set designers created a police station in a barn at Halton Gill and one of the houses in the hamlet was made to look like the outside of the police station – complete with iron railings.

Halton Gill residents are no strangers to film crews. In 2010, TV chef Jamie Oliver and a production team filmed a series of Christmas adverts there for Sainsbury’s.