H is for Hurst Green (A to Z on Tolkien and the Inklings)

H is for Hurst Green, among the many places of Tolkien's influence, including Sarehole Mill. I'm reposting a blog post from last year:








Early spring in the English countryside...

One of the projects I've had hanging over my head is a guest post on our trip to Tolkien country in Lancashire a couple of years ago. I've had the photos for quite a long time, and haven't managed to write the post. Instead, I'll share them here now, with a few brief headers.

 
Starting on the
Tolkien Trail, in Hurst Green, Ribble Valley, Lancashire...
 
Not the one in Oxford...
 
"As well as its links to J.R.R Tolkien, other literary figures associated with [Stonyhurst] college include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a former pupil), the poet Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins (a former member of staff ) and contemporary novelist Patrick McGrath."
 
Intriguing carvings in the gardens of a house near the college
 
Where Tolkien stayed when visiting his son
 
Can you see me?
 
Looking up, inside the tree's bole
 
Cromwell's Bridge

"Whatever the direct links which J.R.R. Tolkien used in his book, he certainly spent much of his time at Stonyhurst working on 'The Lord of the Rings' in a classroom on the upper gallery of the College. An Oxford Professor of Anglo Saxon and later of English Language and Literature, he even taught a few lessons at the College during his visits. Stonyhurst College is proud of its association with the author, which continued when his younger son Michael taught classics at the College and St Mary's Hall in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With the opening of a new Tolkien Library at St. Mary’s Hall in 2002, J.R.R. Tolkien's connection with Lancashire's Ribble Valley will live on for future generations."
 
Not a sound, except for the water and the calls of sheep
 
Looking out over the lands we'd crossed
 
Another day, in Warwick, at the pub!
 
The Warwick Church where Tolkien was married
 
Turkish beer in an English pub!
 
Farewell to Warwick, and England...

The map of the Tolkien Trail that we followed is available through the Visit Lancashire portal.

Which author's or other artist's footsteps have you followed before?

Comments

sage said…
I think I remember this post--beautiful countryside.
Karen Baldwin said…
Wow! Beautiful photos. Keep 'em coming.
Beverley Baird said…
Wow - the photos are gorgeous - what a fabulous place to visit.
Deniz Bevan said…
Glad you enjoyed them!