COPY - TRACE - PASTE ...
Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if Hobbiton Hill actually was exactly the same profile as Folly Hill?
Before diving in, it’s fair to note that there are other contenders that are said to be the inspiration for Hobbiton Hill. There’s said to be one in Orkney, and about 20% of Tolkien fans now believe the inspiration for Lord of the Rings came from New Zealand - only because of the Peter Jackson films. So - there's bound to be suitable candidate somewhere in New Zealand. But if we confine our search to Tolkien’s own back yard—say, within twenty miles of Oxford—then there really is only one dead ringer.
It’s the almost symmetrical mound that rises proud above the tapestry of English countryside: Folly Hill - overlooking Faringdon.
We now want to compare the profiles. For Folly Hill there’s no shortage of imagery: etchings and sketches reaching back to the days of King Alfred’s cake‑burning (and yes, Alfred once had a hunting lodge on Folly Hill).
But we're looking specifically for an image that might link back to Tolkien.
Imagine it’s the 1930s. Tolkien is most certainly aware of Lord Berners' attempts to build his new tower ( see Garth), and is sitting in the Oxford University Library, leafing through the card indexes for “Faringdon Hill.” He would immediately have found the self-published poems of Henry James Pye, another Oxford graduate.
Henry James Pye was owner of Faringdon House - and also Poet Laureate in the 1780s - although his poetry was so florid that it was frequently lampooned.
And there, on the frontispiece of Pye’s Poems volume II, lies a 1786 engraving of Folly Hill:
Before diving in, it’s fair to note that there are other contenders that are said to be the inspiration for Hobbiton Hill. There’s said to be one in Orkney, and about 20% of Tolkien fans now believe the inspiration for Lord of the Rings came from New Zealand - only because of the Peter Jackson films. So - there's bound to be suitable candidate somewhere in New Zealand. But if we confine our search to Tolkien’s own back yard—say, within twenty miles of Oxford—then there really is only one dead ringer.
It’s the almost symmetrical mound that rises proud above the tapestry of English countryside: Folly Hill - overlooking Faringdon.
We now want to compare the profiles. For Folly Hill there’s no shortage of imagery: etchings and sketches reaching back to the days of King Alfred’s cake‑burning (and yes, Alfred once had a hunting lodge on Folly Hill).
But we're looking specifically for an image that might link back to Tolkien.
Imagine it’s the 1930s. Tolkien is most certainly aware of Lord Berners' attempts to build his new tower ( see Garth), and is sitting in the Oxford University Library, leafing through the card indexes for “Faringdon Hill.” He would immediately have found the self-published poems of Henry James Pye, another Oxford graduate.
Henry James Pye was owner of Faringdon House - and also Poet Laureate in the 1780s - although his poetry was so florid that it was frequently lampooned.
And there, on the frontispiece of Pye’s Poems volume II, lies a 1786 engraving of Folly Hill:
When we overlay this image onto Tolkien’s painting of Hobbiton Hill, the result is nothing short of astonishing — the two profiles lock together with a precision that is impossible to dismiss.
Did Tolkien perhaps TRACE the image that he found in his college library - when he was doing his first sketches of Hobbiton Hill?
And - while we're looking at that 1786 engraving - doesn't that small tower in the field with the unusually shaped pyramid-roof look familiar? Interesting...
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Come to think of it - looking at the Folly hillside on the engraving - was Tolkien already thinking of Bagshot Row and Bag End? Those white blobs look distinctly like round doors!
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