stuartwilliams.net
travelling sideways in space and time
On the Trail of Tolkien
I pass over pangs to me of passing through Hall Green--become a huge tram-ridden meaningless suburb, where I actually lose my way--and eventually down what is left of beloved lanes of childhood, and past the very gate of our cottage, now in the midst of a sea of new red-brick. The old mill still stands, and Mrs. Hunt's still sticks out into the road as it turns uphill; but the crossing beyond the now fenced-in pool, where the bluebell lane ran down into the mill lane, is now a dangerous crossing alive with motors and red lights. |
At the heart of the project are those leafy places in Hall Green, Moseley and Edgbaston, Birmingham where Tolkien spent most of his childhood before the First World War and his academic success in Oxford. Also included are some locations in the nearby 'Black Country' which, although undocumented as inspirations, may reflect his thoughts of the dark land of Mordor which the once fiery and heavily industrialised Black Country is said to have suggested.
The project incorporates The Tolkien Trail Survey, a photographic survey comprising record photography documenting architecture and locations associated with Tolkien. The Survey is complemented by digital art based on a selection of survey images, placing those real-world inspirations into a simulation of 'Middle-earth' as I imagine it might be if it were real.
Elements of the project also include actors from 'Shire Productions' which each year offer wonderful theatrical productions of excerpts from Tolkien's works at the 'Tolkien Weekend' in May at Sarehole Mill, literally a stone's throw from Tolkien's childhood home in Wake Green Road. I am proud to support Shire Productions as their Official Photographer.
The hamlet of Sarehole itself, and the Mill (inspiration for the Old Mill at Hobbiton), are now surrounded by suburbs, but they are also strongly connected with the woodland nature reserve, Moseley Bog, inspiration for 'The Old Forest' and other woodland in Tolkien's work. This glorious refuge from the man-made world outside has become a place of pilgrimage for me, as well as a core element of this project.
A selection of digital art work from this project will be shown here on this page, and it will grow as time permits, so keep coming back if you find it interesting! For selected record photography from The Tolkien Trail Survey, see the separate page linked from the main menu (left).
Stuart Williams
SEE:
Shire Productions
Tolkien Trail Photo Survey
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In Search of Bagginses
In 'The Lord of the Rings', Frodo Baggins is hounded out of Hobbiton by Ringwraiths in search of the One Ring which has been passed on to him by Bilbo, and is the cause of the epic story itself.
Here, Sarehole Mill (the Old Mill at Hobbiton) is searched by such a wraith (a member of Shire Productions), and we see the night-time Mill through the wraith's eyes...
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Beneath the Misty Mountains
A crucial element of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is the tragi-comic character Sméagol, better known as Gollum. Having found the One Ring in his youth, and murdered a friend to keep it, Sméagol was corrupted by the evil power of the ring, and exiled by his people he crept into the cavernous roots of the Misty Mountains to hide and contemplate his 'Precious'.
The ring and his awful existence distorted Sméagol's mind and his physical form until he became the sad, demented creature Gollum.
This picture is a composite of canal tunnels and the Singing Cavern beneath Dudley's Castle Hill. Starring Vivienne Wilkes of Shire Productions as Gollum (photographed in Joy's Wood, Moseley Bog).
Orthanc Abandoned
Orthanc at Isengard was the tower of the corrupt wizard Saruman. I have identified it with the clock tower of Birmingham University, which is not far from where it would have been seen by young Tolkien while walking in a local park.
The clock tower, known as 'Old Joe', is largely surrounded by enormous, cliff-like buildings (the Ring of Isengard?). Others have identified this with Barad-Dur and the great eye; perhaps another influence.
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The White Tower of Ecthelion
Near Sterling Road, Edgbaston, where Tolkien lived in his later youth, are two great towers, belived to be inspirations for the eponymous 'Two Towers' of Lord of the Rings fame, though the choice of towers in the title is a bit vague. In the film version, the Two Towers are Orthanc and Barad-Dur.
One of the real Two Towers, Perrott's Folly, is identified with the White Tower of Ecthelion, the highest point of the city of Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor. It was once a hunting lodge and later a weather station and observatory. Today it is run by a charity, the Perrott's Folly Company, who are working to preserve it.
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In the Morgul Vale
The second of the literary Two Towers of Tolkien is, in reality, just a few hundred yards from the other, and a lesser distance from Tolkien's one-time home in Sterling Road, Edgbaston.
This is Minas Morgul, headquarters of the Nazgul or Ringwraiths, and in fact the one-time chimney of the steam engine pumping house of Edgbaston Waterworks. It is in no longer in use, though the waterworks, modernised, still operates.
Five Nazgul from Shire Productions add grisly verisimilitude to the scene...
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At Barad-Dur
It is often said that the Dark Land of Mordor was inspired by the Black Country, an area of the Midlands of England, not far from Birmingham, which was once heavily industrialised at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, and the flames and smoke of whose furnaces, foundries and factories could be seen for miles.
A blasted, desolate place littered with slag heaps and mine spoil at the time of Tolkien's youth, it would understandably seem like the heart of darkness to someone brought up in the quiet leafy country lanes and fields around Sarehole.
No places are particularly identified within the Black Country, but it seems to make sense to me to envisage Dudley Castle, high on its hill (and somewhat increased in height!) as Barad-Dur, the tower home of the Dark Lord Sauron from 'The Lord of the Rings'. I make no claims for this to be the 'real' tower of Sauron, but it IS fun to imagine!
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The Old Forest
The Old Forest of Tolkien's writings (and perhaps Fangorn Forest too, at least in part) is today identified with the delightful if often rather soggy glades of Moseley Bog and the adjoining Joy's Wood, childhood haunts and effectively the young Tolkien's back garden at Hall Green, both nature reserves and rightly preserved for all sorts of conservation reasons as well as their connection with Tolkien.
It is an endless wonder to me that I may go there at any time and return to the world of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' simply by entering these leafy environs, and I often get the impression that the trees are talking around me...
This is a composite, and deliberately a little more sinister than the tranquil reality.
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The Two Trees of Valinor
Telperion and Laurelin were the Silver Tree and the Gold that brought light to the Land of the Valar in ancient times, as told of in ‘The Silmarillion’.
Created by Yavanna and Nienna on the mound of Ezellohar, to the west of Valmar soon after the coming of the Valar to Valinor , they were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant shortly before the beginning of the First Age (‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ are set in the Third Age). Their last flower and fruit were made by the Valar into the Moon and the Sun.
I found these two trees in a field alongside Sarehole Mill…
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