A Tale of Two Hills....
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Easily recognisable as Tolkien’s beloved Hobbiton Hill, this painting has a charming trick up its sleeve.
Show it to anyone from Hatford—the tiny hamlet tucked southeast of Folly Hill—and you might hear a knowing chuckle: “That’s Holy Trinity Church in the foreground, Sandy Lane curling away from us, and Folly Hill rising in the distance.” Is it Middle‑earth or rural Oxfordshire? For the residents of Hatford, it’s no contest. They're one and the same. |
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Through his north-facing Rivendell window in Hatford, Tolkien would have been able to see Folly Hill on the skyline — the same profile that would become the Shire’s most iconic hill. And - "Sandy Lane" was indeed sandy in the 1930s - with sand and gravel pits just north of the village. It was only tarmacked later. The farm shown on the left is Sandy Lane Farm. The watermill, stream and bridge in the foreground are inventions of Tolkien’s imagination — features he added to shape the scene. So these are not drawn from Hatford itself. HOWEVER - Frogmore Brook does run just west of the village from north to south - and just half a mile away - along Frogmore brook towards Stanford - was The Crown Prince - Tolkien's nearest pub, just on the edge of Stanford. Behind the pub were pig sheds and the Brewhouse mill. Tolkien was fascinated by small watermills, village brewing, pre‑industrial rural life, the social economy of pubs, and the destruction of old mills (a major theme in The Lord of the Rings). The mill behind The Prince — a tiny, self‑sufficient, mixed‑use rural mill — is exactly the kind of thing Tolkien would have noticed and sketched. It is not hard to imagine him seeing such a place and storing it away as part of the “texture” that then became Hobbiton.
Both the pub and the mill house have now been converted into separate houses, with the original millstone now in the living room!
Both the pub and the mill house have now been converted into separate houses, with the original millstone now in the living room!
Interestingly, GARTH comes up with his own conjectured link between Hobbiton Hill and Folly Hill - that has nothing to do with Hatford. The author discovered Lord Berners’ 1936 Shell‑campaign painting of Faringdon Folly and noticed how closely it resembles Tolkien’s The Hill: Hobbiton across the Water — from the cumulus clouds and hedgerows to the green fields and the road rising toward a central hill. Because Shell posters were widely displayed (and were also painted onto the sides of Shell tankers delivering to petrol stations) - at exactly the time that Tolkien was illustrating The Hobbit, (see timeline) Garth suggests that the Berners’ painting could easily have been the inspiration for Tolkien's Hobbiton Hill.
And Garth is almost certainly right: Tolkien would have seen the Shell poster in 1936 - also painted onto the sides of tankers.
However - knowing what we now know about the Hatford link and Rivendell, he would have been amused perhaps - seeing pictures of "his" Hobbiton Hill trundling around the country - but he didn't need to be inspired!
The inspiration that linked Folly Hill to Hobbiton Hill was already well in place.
However - knowing what we now know about the Hatford link and Rivendell, he would have been amused perhaps - seeing pictures of "his" Hobbiton Hill trundling around the country - but he didn't need to be inspired!
The inspiration that linked Folly Hill to Hobbiton Hill was already well in place.
