Roots of Tolkien's Middle Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of the fictional world of Middle Earth and one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, grew up and spent his formative years in the suburbs of Birmingham. His memories of the area were later to become a valuable source of names, images and settings for his literary creations, now immortalised for millions in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Robert Blackham, a keen student of the books and member of the Tolkien Society, has brought together a fascinating collection of images, contemporary and modern, of Tolkien-related sites in Birmingham. Some are well known but many are new and original speculations. This new collection of images provides an important look at likely sources for the roots of Middle-eart that arose from the rural and urban suburbs of Birmingham.