Tolkien slept here

[wellinghall]

"I would be very surprised if Tolkien hadn’t visited St Nectan’s Kieve. He was part of a research group doing archaeology just up the coast near Bristol and he certainly had a thing for tales like this."
http://runesoup.com/2010/07/why-i-like-holy-places/

"The one-day tour of filming locations ends at Puzzlewood, an eerie ancient woodland featuring towering trees, deep ravines and moss-covered rock formations. Its other-worldly appearance is believed to have inspired Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien's vision of Middle-earth."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/international/3938236/Cotswolds-steeped-in-history

Comments

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

I've always loved "X is believed to have inspired Y" without citation; after all, so long as the person who says it doesn't actually remember making it up (that is, if they believe it), it's always true! No need for any pesky evidence at all!

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Should one call this sort of thing "McKeithology"?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I like it! :-)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Sneaky! ;-)

You missed a bit...

[(Anonymous)]

You clipped off the last bit of that second article, the best bit!

"Sorry folks, that's one film project Wellywood nabbed."

Why is that the best bit? It is for me - I'm a LOTR Film Locations Tourguide in Wellington, NZ... :)

- Jack M.

Re: You missed a bit...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Hello - good to hear from you!

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

So, I can't remember whether you were among the groups that went to Puzzlewood - but if so, having now been there can you see a resemblance to Middle-Earth?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I didn't go, but I have seen the photos. And I can see that it is quite Tolkienesque. My point, though, is that there is not a single shred of evidence that it did actually inspire Tolkien, nor indeed that he ever went there.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

Well of course, I thought that went without saying! *My* point was, well, mainly flippant commentary on our recent holiday :-p, but other than that to query whether you could see the likeness that must have inspired someone to make the connection in the first place - myths, even modern ones, don't grow up randomly but always have some reason behind them. In other words, there *is* a connection, it's just the other way round: not that the wood inspired Tolkien, but that Tolkien inspired some person/people into interacting with/ perceiving/ appreciating the wood in a certain way.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see! Sorry about that, I was being a bit dense.

I do see what you mean. It might even tie in with my paper on "Tolkien's Real Mythology for England" ... must dig it out ...

I trust all is well with you four?