A village of the Tookland, lying in the chalky downs of the Green Hill Country near Tuckborough. It thus lay in the hills just within the borders of the Shire's Westfarthing, about twenty miles to the south of Hobbiton. As part of the Tookland, Whitwell lay in lands held by the important Took family, and at the time of the War of the Ring, those lands were farmed by Paladin Took II. Paladin, the father of Peregrin Took, was not only a farmer, but also held the title of Thain of the Shire.2 As Thain, Paladin probably did not actually live in Whitwell, but rather at nearby Great Smials, which had been the seat of the Took family for generations.
Whitwell is not shown on any map, but from its description we know that it was in the hills around Tuckborough in the Tookland. The name 'Whitwell' tells us that it was at the spring of a stream, so it would have been relatively high among the Green Hills. Like Whitwell itself, that stream is not shown on any map, but it must have run into a larger stream, and the only real candidate is the Water to the north. In fact streams running down from the hills are mentioned in the account of Frodo leaving Bag End,3 so Whitwell was apparently at the spring of one of these. All of this is, of course, speculative, but it would suggest that Whitwell stood somewhere in the hills to the northward of Tuckborough, looking out from the northern Green Hills over the Water-valley.
Notes
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III 1601 was the date of the founding of the Shire, and hence the earliest point that Whitwell could have been established. Its association with the Tooks of Tookland hints that it was probably a rather later settlement, based on the known date of the excavation of the Tooks' famous residence at Great Smials. This was not begun until III 2683 (S.R. 1083), more than a thousand years after the original settlement of the Shire.
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2 |
In Minas Tirith, Peregrin Took reports that his father '...farms the lands round Whitwell near Tuckborough...' (The Return of the King V 1, Minas Tirith). By this he means that his father owns and manages the farmland around Whitwell, rather than literally farming it himself.
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3 |
On the first night of the journey from Bag End, after Frodo and his companions had crossed the Water, we're told that '...smoke-like wisps of mist were creeping up the hill-sides from the streams and deep meadows.' (The Fellowship of the Ring I 3, Three is Company). Those hill-sides must be the northern feet of the Green Hills, with the streams flowing down from them. Up in the hills above, and somewhat to the west of Frodo and his friends, it would be at the spring of one of these streams that Whitwell must have stood.
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- Updated 1 August 2026
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