The name among the Hobbits for the ancient city of the Kings of Arthedain, Fornost Erain, far to the north of the Shire. The name Norbury means 'northern fortress' and is an exact equivalent of the original Elvish name Fornost.
There had been Kings at Norbury when the Shire was founded, and for nearly four centuries afterward, but that was in the far distant past at the time of the War of the Ring. By then, Fornost had long been abandoned, and had fallen into overgrown grass-covered ruins. After the War, it seems that Aragorn came north and organised the reconstruction of his ancestors' capital,1 so that after centuries as a deserted ruin, Kings' Norbury was visited by a King of Isildur's line once again.
Notes
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At least, Gandalf told Barliman Butterbur that the King would one day return to King's Norbury. We're not told with certainty whether Aragorn actually did so, but he certainly re-established the old northern capital of Annúminas, and so it seems perfectly reasonable that he would also, as Gandalf predicted, have returned to the seat of his ancestors at King's Norbury.
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- Updated 8 December 2023
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