In the footsteps of J R R Tolkien

Thursday 30th August 2012

While looking for walks in the area I found a leaflet on the Forest of Bowland website that describes a walk called The Tolkien Trail. The walk visits countryside that the writer of 'The Lord of the Rings', J R R Tolkien, was supposed to have been very familiar with, around the Catholic seminary at Stonyhurst College. The Warden at Slaidburn Youth Hostel, where I had been staying, even claimed that we were in the area that inspired Middle-Earth, however I can find no confirmation of this in direct sources such as Tolkien’s own writings or Biography. Nevertheless Tolkien did visit the area at the same time as writing The Lord of the Rings so it could be true to say that I was walking in the footsteps of J R R Tolkien. After staying overnight in the picturesque village of Slaidburn I drove via the town of Clitheroe to the village of Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley. With a copy of the Tolkien Trail leaflet in my hand I set off through the village and was immediately struck by the name of a pub: The Eagle and Child. This was the name of a pub in Oxford that was much frequented by Tolkien and friends (nicknamed by them the bird and baby!). The Tolkien associations had begun early.

Crossing saturated fields at the back of the village I followed the directions on the leaflet that led me to Stonyhurst College, a Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition. I passed by Fox Fall Wood on the way, but the wood was within an enclosure and left me outside on waterlogged fields, so I was still not enjoying the walk. At the college I skirted the grounds keeping well away from the impressive buildings that are the centre-piece of the College. Despite not getting a close look I was still astonished at the enormity of the cathedral-like buildings, but ultimately I wasn’t that interested in the college as it was the views ahead of me towards Pendle Hill that more successfully attracted my eye. I crossed a road at Woodfields where, according to my leaflet, Tolkien had stayed while visiting his son who was in the seminary. It was claimed that the view from Tom Bombadil’s house may have been based on that from New Lodge (despite the fact that Tolkien wrote the Bombadil chapters long before he ever came to Stonyhurst). A rough lane took me to Over Hacking Wood where I eventually crossed a stile into the dark depths that at last felt like I was in the pages of The Lord of the Rings.

A steep, slimy path led me steeply down to a simply divine little dell with a tiny stream snaking through a narrow ravine below a dense canopy of trees. I somehow managed to get my camera to take pictures that made the place look a lot brighter and greener than it actually looked to me. Despite the gloomy atmosphere this was gorgeous woodland scenery, made even more delectable by the murk and shadow created by the densely overhanging trees. This felt like how the Old Forest is described in The Lord of the Rings. The stream led me a short distance away to a tall bridge beyond which lay the broad River Hodder (the same river that passes through Stocks Reservoir that I’d walked around the day before). The river had been swollen by the rains of the previous days and was now chocolaty brown and fast moving. Turning right I followed the river out of the wood and round a great sweeping turn to the south. For this holiday I had feared that I would get nothing but wall-to-wall rain, but I have had little to worry about as once again I was enjoying dry weather and at this point I even had some sunshine as I walked along a wide track beside the river.

Eventually I reached a road where after crossing the river I found an old bridge that my leaflet calls Cromwell’s Bridge. This bridge seems to be a partial ruin but still technically spans the river. It is possible to get to the bridge but only a very foolhardy person would attempt to cross the river by the old bridge, especially with the river in spate. My route took me along the road for a short time following the route of the Ribble Way (even though I had still not reached the River Ribble) and after a short climb beside the road brought me to a path that led me across abominably muddy fields to Winckley Hall. A track led me through the busy Winckley Hall Farm back to the River Hodder which soon joined the even wider River Ribble. The River Ribble is one of the great rivers of the Yorkshire Dales, but here it had left its birthplace far behind and entered Lancashire swelling in size until by now it was a vast river and about to be swelled even more by the River Hodder. Both rivers were full and became a vast area of water at their meeting point that threatened to break their banks.

The muddy brown river rushed past the banks as I continued to walk beside the river accompanied by heavily scented flowers that a quick search of the internet has revealed to be the invasive Himalayan Balsam. It certainly seems to be a pervasive plant as it dominated long stretches of the river bank, but provided me with a welcome accompaniment during my long walk beside the River Ribble all the way from Winckley Hall Farm to Lambing Clough Wood. There I had my lunch under the trees before finally leaving the Ribble Way and climbing ridiculously muddy fields all the way up to the village of Hurst Green. This was not a great walk, but the highlight was definitely that dell on Over Hacking Beck, which was simply a delight. The wood was not far from the guest house that Tolkien probably stayed in so he must surely have also delighted in the scenery as I did. The riverside walk was also an enjoyable part of the walk, but as for this being the inspiration for Middle-Earth I think that is unlikely. It is my understanding that the real inspiration for Middle-Earth lies in the countryside where Tolkien grew up in the West Midlands, now obliterated by the urban sprawl of Birmingham. Countryside like that of the Ribble Valley is merely a reminder of the sort of countryside, quickly disappearing, that inspired a classic.