Letter to Jenny Hall (28 February 1966)

On 28 February 1966, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to Miss Jenny Hall.

• Subject: (1) Etymology of 'Crickhollow'. (2) The true nature of the 'walking elms' in the Shire.
• Publication: None. Auctioning by Christie's (lot 52).
• Description: One page, 76 Sandfield Road, Oxford letterhead, signed by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Transcription

I have been in most parts of Wales, but the place names I use are made up from English models or borrowed from books, though Crickhollow was actually meant to resemble Crickhowell.

The walking elms were meant to be ents (but not entwives). Gandalf had asked one or two of them to keep a watch on the Shire, but he did not tell anybody about it.*

[* As can be gathered from Treebeard's conversations with M[erry] and P[ippin] he knew a lot more about events than they guessed, and more about 'hobbits' than he pretended to.]

With best wishes

J.R.R. Tolkien