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Home , Birmingham Museums Trust, Edgbaston, Edgbaston (ward), Hall Green, Kings Heath, Ladywood

Further information

Websites Visitor Information: www.visitbirmingham.com : www.birminghammuseums.org.uk : www.birmingham.gov.uk/tolkien

Books The , J.R.R. Tolkien (George Allen & Unwin, 1937) , J.R.R. Tolkien (Published in three parts, George Allen & Unwin 1954-55) The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Robert S. Blackham (Tempus, 2006) Mill Guide, Shena Mason (Birmingham Museums, 2001)

Credits Original text researched by Chris Upton, Revised by Kristina Williamson, 2001 and Chris Rice, 2013 TOLKIEN is a registered trademark of ‘The Tolkien Estate Limited’. Images courtesy of Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham Libraries, , Chris Rice and Robert S. Blackham Cover photograph of J.R.R. Tolkien as a young reproduced by kind permission of Mr. Oliver Suffield. J.R.R. Tolkien at King Edward’s School reproduced by kind permission of the King Edward’s Foundation Archive.

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Information contained in this guide is correct at the time of publishing With no desire to J.R.R. TOLKIEN return to South Africa, the family settled in the hamlet of Sarehole AND BIRMINGHAM where they lived for four years. In 1900 they moved to a house on the Road in from where Ronald could take a tram to King Edward’s School, then located in New Street in . The family soon moved again to Westfield Road in Watercolour of and by Heike Vajen then to and a house (now demolished) in Oliver Road, in order to be near the Catholic Oratory church. Mabel, a recent Professor J.R.R. Tolkien in 1972 convert to Catholicism, drew strength from her new faith. Diagnosed as diabetic, she died in 1904 while convalescing at the Oratory’s retreat near . J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the best known authors in the world. His epic work The Lord of the Rings (published Following their mother’s death, the boys remained in 1954-55) was voted the most popular book of the the Ladywood/ area. They originally lived with twentieth century. His children’s story (1937) their aunt in Stirling Road, but they were not happy and is equally famous, and the two works have been translated moved to lodgings in Duchess Road. Four years later into dozens of languages worldwide. they moved to their last Birmingham address in Highfield Road, where Ronald learnt that he had gained Tolkien lived in nine homes in the south of Birmingham a place at Exeter College, . With the exception during his formative years from 1895 to 1911, when he of army service, a spell as a lecturer in Leeds and left to study at Exeter College, Oxford. Although he never retirement in Poole, Tolkien was to live and work in lived in the city again, he referred to Birmingham as his Oxford for most of his life. home town and to himself as a ‘Birmingham man’. Later in life he explained that he drew inspiration for his writing Tolkien died on 2 September 1973, aged eighty-one. from the people and landscapes of the city and the surrounding countryside. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontien, now in South Africa. His parents, Arthur and Mabel Tolkien, were originally from Birmingham but had emigrated to further Arthur’s career in banking. In 1895 Mabel took Ronald and his younger brother Hilary to Birmingham to see their grandparents for the first time. Whilst they were visiting her parents in Kings Heath, Mabel received news that Arthur had contracted rheumatic fever. Sadly, he died before she was able to return to South Africa. Kings Heath High Street Edgbaston y a Waterworks w e Tower l d d i

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Please note: these maps are only an approximate guide to the relative sites. For public transport information contact Traveline on 0871 200 22 33 or visit www.networkwestmidlands.com Gracewell Cottages c.1905

264 Wake Green Road Sarehole Mill 1 2 In 1896 the Tolkien Ronald and his brother Hilary spent many hours family moved to 5 exploring the grounds of Sarehole Mill and being Gracewell Cottages chased off by the miller’s son, whom they nicknamed (now 264 Wake Green the ‘White Ogre’. In the 1960s Tolkien contributed Road) in the hamlet to the public appeal to restore the Mill as a museum. of Sarehole. At the time the area was Today Sarehole Mill is part of Birmingham Museums completely rural and Trust. As well as being a working watermill, Tolkien said that the the museum features the Signposts to Middle Earth times he spent here exhibition which tells the story of Tolkien’s were the happiest connections with Sarehole and the surrounding area. years of his youth. Opening Times Sarehole is said to April-October, Tuesday-Sunday 12.00noon-4.00pm. have been the model Closed Mondays except Bank Holidays. for “”, the November-March, Weekly guided tours on Fridays home of the , and memories of this country at 11am or by appointment. childhood were to colour much of his later writing. Cole Bank Road, Hall Green, Birmingham B13 0BD Please note that 264 Wake Green Road Telephone: 0121 348 8160 is a private residence. Website: www.birminghammuseums.org.uk Watercolour of by Heike Vajen Moseley Bog The Shire Country Park 3 and Joy’s Wood 4 and Cole Valley Tolkien later lamented the encroachment of the The Shire Country Park follows the attractive and varied suburbs upon his former home but there is one valley of the River Cole as a green ribbon for some four place that ‘civilisation’ missed: Moseley Bog. miles from to . It was named The Bog was an ideal place for Tolkien’s childhood in 2005 to reflect Tolkien’s links with the local area. adventures. It was once a storage pool for Sarehole The park contains wetland, grassland, woodland and Mill, and is also the site of two Bronze Age ‘burnt heath, and supports a wealth of animal, plant and insect mounds’. life. Herons, mallards and moorhens are a common The Bog is recalled in Tolkien’s description of sight, and if you are lucky you may spot a kingfisher the ‘’, last of the primeval wild woods, hunting for fish along the meandering river. where ‘’ lived. It is now preserved The ford at Green Road (formerly Green Lane) is one as a Local Nature Reserve managed by the of the few remaining fords along the Cole Valley and Birmingham & Wildlife Trust. would have been very familiar to the young J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Bog is a short walk from Sarehole Mill via Thirlmere The Birmingham Parks Ranger Service and The Friends Drive and Pensby Close. The site can also be accessed group run a range of events and activities in The Shire from the entrance on Yardley Wood Road or from Country Park. Wake Green Playing Fields via Windermere Road. For more information telephone 0121 675 0937 Telephone: 0121 454 1199 or visit The Shire Country Park Friends website: Website: www.moseleybog.org.uk www.shirecountryparkfriends.org.uk Perrott’s Folly and The Oratory Edgbaston Waterworks Tower 5 6 When Tolkien’s mother Whilst living in Edgbaston the young J.R.R. Tolkien converted to Catholicism would have been very familiar with two distinctive in 1900, the family local landmarks. worshipped at St Anne’s The extraordinary 96ft (30m) Perrott’s Folly is Church in Alcester Street, named after John Perrott who had it built in 1758. . The crenelated gothick tower was originally part of After moving to Edgbaston a hunting lodge. In the 19th century it became one in 1902, Mabel and the of the first weather recording stations in the country. boys attended Cardinal Newman’s Oratory on the Hagley Road. The family lived nearby in Oliver Road Along the road at Edgbaston Waterworks stands a and, for a time, Ronald was enrolled at St Phillip’s later Victorian chimney tower. The tower was part of School, at that time located in the same street. a complex of buildings designed by J H Chamberlain and William Martin around 1870. The friendship of Father Francis Xavier Morgan, who became the boys’ guardian, was a source of strength The pair are said to have suggested Minas Morgul during Mabel’s illness and subsequent death. and Minas Tirith, of , after which the second volume of The Lord of the Rings is named. Visits by appointment. Telephone: 0121 454 0496 The Tolkien brothers lived with their aunt in nearby Website: www.birminghamoratory.org.uk Stirling Road between 1904 and 1908. Plough & Harrow Hotel c.1910

Tolkien at King Edward’s School, 1910 Below: New Street building

Highfield Road and the King Edward’s School 7 Plough & Harrow Hotel 8 Whilst living in lodgings in Duchess Tolkien attended King Edward’s School in New Street Road, Tolkien had met and fallen between 1900 and 1911. in love with nineteen year old He proved to be a good all-rounder. As well as Edith Bratt. He was only sixteen at pursuing his academic studies he was an enthusiastic the time and his guardian Father sportsman, actor, librarian and secretary of the Morgan attempted to put an end debating and literary societies. to the relationship by moving the two boys to Highfield Road. It was Tolkien’s last The school moved to its present site in Edgbaston in Birmingham address. 1935. Sadly, the New Street building, designed by Sir Charles Barry and AWN Pugin, was demolished In 1913, aged 21, and whilst still at Exeter College in in 1936. However, a whole corridor was saved and Oxford, Tolkien re-established contact with Edith and their romance was rekindled. They were married in rebuilt in Edgbaston as the new school chapel. the Spring of 1916 in and in June of that year Guided tours of the chapel are available on Friday spent a night in Birmingham at the Plough & Harrow afternoons at 2pm during term-time. Please telephone Hotel. Ronald was most likely on embarkation leave in advance to check availability. prior to his departing for France as an officer in the Lancashire Fusiliers. King Edward’s School, Edgbaston Park Rd, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2UA Telephone: 0121 454 4111 Telephone: 0121 472 1672 Website: www.ploughandharrowhotel.co.uk Website: www.kes.org.uk Hospital beds in the Great Hall

The University of Birmingham 9 10 During the First World War the University of The striking new Library Birmingham was requisitioned by the army as the of Birmingham holds a 1st Southern Military Hospital. Various parts of the variety of original material campus were used as temporary wards, including related to Tolkien in the Archives the Great Hall. & Heritage section on Level 4. In November 1916 Tolkien was brought to the Next door to the library, hospital from the Somme after being diagnosed with a blue plaque on the trench fever. He stayed in the hospital for six weeks Birmingham Repertory and although he gradually recovered his health over Theatre commemorates Dr J. , the next 12 months he never returned to France. a local surgeon and founder of the Birmingham The Chamberlain Tower, the university’s most familiar Hospital Saturday Fund. landmark, may have been another source of Tolkien used the name ‘Sam Gamgee’ for Frodo’s inspiration for The Lord of the Rings. At night, the faithful companion in The Lord of the Rings. ‘Gamgee tower’s brightly illuminated clockface is thought to tissue’ was the local name for cotton wool and the have provided Tolkien with the idea for the terrifying surgeon’s widow lived opposite Tolkien’s aunt in Eye of . Stirling Road so he would have been very familiar with the name. The Great Hall is open to the public during office hours. Telephone: 0121 414 3344 Telephone: 0121 242 4242 Website: www.birmingham.ac.uk Website: www.libraryofbirmingham.com