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Crickhowell Wins Bid to Purchase Tolkein Letter

 

In an earlier post we highlighted an episode of Derek Brockway's 'Weatherman Walking' series in which his guest walker Emma Harrison explained the similarities between some of the names used in Tolkein's 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and the names in the region around Abergavenny (including Buckland near Abergavenny was a name used in the books, Tolkein's drawing of the 'Lonely Mountain' was surprisingly similar to Sugar Loaf, the historic iron furnaces of Merthyr, one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution, must have seemed like the fiery Mordor where the One Ring was forged and ultimately destroyed).

It's believed Tolkein adapted these names because he spent a significant amount of time in the area and drew inspiration for his books. This has now been proved in a letter he wrote confirming that he came up with the name of the town Crickhollow from Crickhowell. The letter has also now been purchased by the Crickhowell community following a terrific fundraising campaign.