The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Founded in III 1601 (year 1 by the Shire-reckoning)
Location
The lands between the Far Downs and the Three-Farthing Stone
Race
Culture
Settlements
Meaning
'west quarter'

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 27 September 2009
  • This entry is complete

Westfarthing of the Shire

The lands westward from the Three-Farthing Stone

Map of the Westfarthing of the Shire
The Westfarthing of the Shire (slightly conjectural)1
The Westfarthing of the Shire (slightly conjectural)1

Farthings and marches of the Shire

The western farthing of the Shire encompassed the land between the Far Downs and the Three-Farthing Stone. Much of the landscape of the Westfarthing consisted of a hilly country of chalk, especially its central White Downs, on which the town of Michel Delving was built. Towards its northern and eastern borders the land became lower, and the valley of the small river known as the Water ran along the northeastern edge of the farthing.

Politically, the Westfarthing seems to have been the most important of the Shire's four farthings. It not only contained Michel Delving, the chief town of the Shire, but also the seat of the Thains at Great Smials in the Tookland, and the important town of Hobbiton, home of the Baggins family.


Notes

1

Some of the features on this map were never directly mapped by Tolkien, and so their locations are inferred from descriptions. Specifically, we don't know the exact course of the western border of the Westfarthing, but we do know that the Far Downs marked the Shire's border in that direction. Similarly, the locations of Michel Delving and Longbottom are not established with certainty, but they cannot have differed significantly from the positions shown here.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 27 September 2009
  • This entry is complete

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2009. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.
Review your candidates' DISC profiles from anywhere with Discus' cloud-based database.
The Encyclopedia of Arda
The Encyclopedia of Arda
Menu
Homepage Search Latest Entries and Updates Random Entry