The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Associated with the Shire after its foundation in III 1601 (year 1 by the Shire-reckoning)
Location
The northern parts of the Northfarthing, rising into the Hills of Evendim
Race
Culture
Family
The Boffins of Underhill were known to have hunted the Moors, and presumably other families did so as well
Sources
The Water appears to have risen in this region, and likely so did the little-known river Norbourn1

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About this entry:

  • Updated 25 August 2018
  • This entry is complete

North Moors

The highlands of the Northfarthing

Map of the North Moors
Somewhat conjectural2
Somewhat conjectural2

The high treeless land that marked the northernmost extent of the Shire's Northfarthing. The moors were in fact the lower southern slopes of the Hills of Evendim, beyond which lay the ancient and ruined city of Men known as Annúminas. The Hobbits of the Shire used the moors for hunting, and it was on one such hunt that Halfast Gamgee claimed to have seen a huge 'Tree-man' wandering the northern uplands.


Notes

1

The course of the Norbourn is not well established. Indeed, our only clue to its location is a brief note mentioning that the region known as Greenfields lay between it and the Brandywine. Given that the Brandywine formed the Shire's eastern boundary, and that the Norbourn does not appear on the detailed map of the Shire, then it seems safe to assume that it must have flowed through the Northfarthing from the northwest. On that assumption, its source must have been in the northern highlands of the Farthing, which seems to indicate that it lay somewhere among the North Moors (or possibly farther north still, among the Hills of Evendim).

2

The northern regions of the Shire are not mapped in any detail, but given the known geography northward of the Shire, we can be reasonably confident that the North Moors lay in the area shown. The placing of some of the elements on this map (particularly Greenfields and the river Norbourn) are based on Tolkien's notes quoted in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 25 August 2018
  • This entry is complete

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