The Old Forest And Hobbiton
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Moseley Bog |
This page began as a thought about an entire sequence of Lord of the Rings, that is not included in the film, that of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippins journey throught the Old Forest, their encounters with Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil and the Lady Goldberry. As one thought leads to another, the page took on a life of its own, and so, as you will see, it not only covers Moseley Bog and its environs, but also is a some what muted plea for the preservation of the English countryside, with emphasis on Warwickshire, that was Tolkien's playground, as a child. A different view, but, we think a view that must and should and must be taken, when either reading Lord of the Rings, or watching the film.
Take your time, visit all the links, and get a feel for Tolkien's thought process, as he created the geography and history of Middle Earth.
The Shire...is in fact more or less a Warwickshire village of about the period of the Diamond Jubilee [1897]. There is no special reference to England in the 'Shire' - except of course that as an Englishman brought up in an 'almost rural' village of Warwickshire ...I take my models like anyone else - from such life as I know.
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JRR Tolkien |
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J.R.R. Tolkien. |
Tolkien said being in England as a child was inspiring as the contrast to South Africa's climate and landscape was striking. He loved the green and leafy environment of Warwickshire.
In Humphrey Carpenter's JRR Tolkien: the Authorised Biography, Tolkien is quoted as saying:
"To find oneself, just at the time when one's imagination is opening out, in a quiet Warwickshire village, engenders a particular love of a central middle England countryside."
On their return from South Africa, the family found lodgings in the Warwickshire village of Sarehole, which was a couple of miles outside Birmingham, on the road to Stratford.The village is widely thought of as the inspiration for Hobbiton and the Shire. The mill that features in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is thought to have derived from Sarehole Mill.The village of Sarehole is now part of Birmingham, but Tolkien's house still stands, largely unchanged.
When Tolkien was eight-years-old the family moved to Moseley so he could go to King Edward's School in Birmingham. Tolkien returned to Warwickshire to get married. He tied the knot at St Mary Immaculate church in Warwick on 22 March, 1916.
In an interview for the BBC interview, Tolkien spoke of his love of trees and it is likely he visited the Forest of Arden.
During his childhood the old forest lay between Sarehole and Stratford. It is possible the The Old Forest, Fangorn and Lothlorien in his books are based on the ancient Warwickshire woodland.
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Bannam Wood, Warwickshre |
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J.R.R. Tolkien. 1892-1973 |
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