Northfarthing
Northfarthing | |
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Region | |
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"The Pedlar of Medicines - Cottages and Cottagers near Hardbottle" by Kay Woollard | |
General Information | |
Location | The Shire |
Type | Region |
People and History | |
Inhabitants | Hobbits |
Events | Battle of Greenfields |
Gallery | Images of the Northfarthing |
The Northfarthing was the cold northern Farthing of the Shire.
Geography[edit | edit source]
The Northfarthing is the only one of the four farthings that does not end in the Three-Farthing Stone; its southernmost point lay about eleven miles north of it[1] and along its northern border were the high North Moors.[2]
It had fresh and fragrant air; when Frodo and Sam entered Ithilien for the first time, the air of the region reminded them of the uplands of the Northfarthing.[3]
The North Moors was the only place in the Shire where heavy snow was common.[4]
Geographic features[edit | edit source]
The farthing contains Bindbole Wood, a river (perhaps the Norbourn), and the Northway Road that led to the town of Oatbarton.
Northfarthing was rocky, and settlements like Hardbottle were delved in or made from its stones.[5]
A branch of the Took Family called the North-tooks lived in a town called Long Cleeve.[6] Given the reference to the north (when most Tooks lived in the Westfarthing), Long Cleeve was probably located in the Northfarthing.
History[edit | edit source]
The only notable historic event that ever occurred in the Northfarthing was the Battle of Greenfields (T.A. 2747).[7] It was the only battle fought with the boundaries of the Shire until the Battle of Bywater.
Around the time of the War of the Ring, Halfred Gamgee moved to Northfarthing.[8]
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Part of the Shire" map
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue", "Concerning Hobbits"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Ring Goes South"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 771
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, "Took of Great Smials"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, "The Longfather-tree of Master Samwise"