Tolkien in Staffordshire

J.R.R Tolkien in Staffordshire 1915 – 1918 at Shenstone Library

An exciting touring exhibition, organised by The Haywood Society, supported by the Staffordshire Libraries and Arts Service and the Museum of Cannock Chase and funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund will be at Shenstone Library from Tuesday 4^th September to Saturday 13^th October

The exhibition, which has already attracted over 250,000 visitors since launch in March 2016, focuses on the time that Tolkien spent in Staffordshire during the First World War highlighting the story for local residents, school groups, visitors to the county and interested groups such as The Tolkien Society and Tolkien scholars and enthusiasts.

Visitors to the exhibition, which has been visiting several of the county’s libraries as part of a two year-long tour, will be able to explore the writings, poetry and artwork that Tolkien wrote in Staffordshire as well as learn more about life for soldiers in Staffordshire during the Great War.

Lieutenant J.R.R. Tolkien, Lancashire Fusiliers, 1916. (2)

Copies of original artwork, of domestic scenes and landscapes drawn by Tolkien in 1918 in Staffordshire, will be on display as will photographs specially loaned by The Tolkien Estate and Bodleian Library.

During the Great War Second Lieutenant J. R. R. Tolkien of the Lancashire Fusiliers was stationed in Staffordshire, first at Whittington Heath, near Lichfield, next at a musketry camp at Newcastle-under-Lyme, then at Rugeley and Brocton Camps on Cannock Chase. After his marriage in March 1916 Tolkien’s wife came to live in Great Haywood so that she could be close to him. Tolkien regularly visited Edith in the village until he was posted to France in June 1916.

Tolkien returned from France in early December 1916 to recover from his traumatic experiences at the Somme. On his return Tolkien had convalesced at Great Haywood, looked after by his wife Edith, and during this time had written the first two stories of his ‘mythology for England’ – The Fall of Gondolin and The Cottage of Lost Play.

Map of Tolkiens Staffordshire 2018 marks another centenary commemoration in the story of J. R. R. Tolkien in Staffordshire during the Great War. Tolkien had spent most of 1917 and the first months of 1918 at the Humber Garrison on the Holderness Peninsula in East Yorkshire. Much of that time had in fact been spent in hospitals recovering from the debilitating effects of trench fever contracted in the Somme trenches in 1916.

In early May 1918, after his Yorkshire interlude, Tolkien returned to the Cannock Chase camps as a Signals Instructor and took up residence in a cottage at Gipsy Green on the Teddesley Estate, near Penkridge. Here he was re-united with Edith and their new son, John, who were accompanied by Edith’s cousin and companion, Jennie Grove. This was a happy time for the Tolkien family after the traumas of the Somme, the devastating effects of trench fever and separation from Edith who had just survived the difficult birth of baby John.

Gipsy Green was an idyllic location. On his first visit there in August 2016, Tolkien’s biographer, John Garth, author of Tolkien and the Great War, described it as “a paradise”. Recent research suggests that the Tolkiens knew of Gipsy Green through a family connection to some workers on the estate. The cottage was not only set in quiet, beautiful countryside but it was within cycling distance of the Chase camps and Ronald could live there with his family, and for the first time enjoy being a husband and a father. Just as Great Haywood was to become Tavrobel (Wood-home) so Gipsy Green was to be Fladweth Amrod (Nomad’s Green) in the topography of Middle-earth.

During several weeks living in the cottage Tolkien wrote little but produced some beautiful sketches, particularly two drawings entitled Gipsy Green and High Life at Gipsy Green. The former is a detailed sketch of their cottage, with its prominent chimneys which can still be seen today, while the latter records, in a series of small sketches, the daily life of the Tolkien family at Gipsy Green as well as some daily happenings on the Teddesley Estate. A third sketch entitled Road nr. Stafford is probably of the road over the Chase through the Satnall Hills.

Unfortunately, Tolkien fell ill again in late June and was sent back to an officer’s hospital in Hull. Edith, who had lived in over twenty different lodgings in two years, decided to stay at Gipsy Green with John and Jennie. The family were re-united with Ronald at Oxford in November 1918 after the war had ended.

So join us as we take a tour around Tolkien’s Staffordshire, the exhibition is full of wonderful exhibits, original photos and more from the time Tolkien spent in Staffordshire.

There’s no need to book a place, simply head down and be prepared to learn more about one of our most beloved authors!

See below for full details.

Where: Shenstone Community Library

When: Saturday September 4th – October 15th

Who: Our Tolkien Exhibition is suitable for all children aged between 4-10 years (it’s even fun for older children and adults too!)

How Much? The Tolkien in Staffordshire event is completely free for everyone.

For more information, please feel free to contact us