Fern Cottage & J.R.R. Tolkien

Fern Cottage became the home of John Ronald Reuel (Ronald) Tolkien and his younger brother Hilary when his mother Mabel rented rooms here in 1904.

Mabel had been suffering badly from diabetes so, in order to aid her convalescence, their former parish Priest (Father Francis Xavier Morgan) made plans to move the Tolkien family here from their previous home in the centre of Birmingham. (Thanks to its renowned quality of clean air, the hamlet of Rednal was also a popular retreat for those suffering from Tuberculosis.)

At that time Fern Cottage was part of the grounds of the nearby Oratory House which was a retreat used by the Birmingham Oratory church community (of which Mabel Tolkien was a member following her conversion from the Baptist church). The proximity of the retreat meant that Father Francis was able to make frequent visits.

The family rented two rooms from the postman who owned the house and meals were provided by the postman’s wife. The two Tolkien boys would also have had the run of the grounds and surrounding countryside: from the wooded hills above Fern Cottage the twelve year-old Ronald would have looked across at views of the grimy, industrial city of Birmingham to one side and the open fields of Worcestershire farmland to the other.

The health of Ronald and Hilary flourished at Fern Cottage, but unfortunately their mother was to die from her diabetes. After the death of Mabel Tolkien, Father Francis assumed the guardianship of the boys and they soon moved back to Edgbaston in central Birmingham where Ronald was reportedly very unhappy.

It is commonly believed that the Victorian tower of Edgbaston Waterworks and Perrott’s Folly are the inspiration for Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Meanwhile it is easy to see how fond memories of Fern Cottage and the densely wooded slopes of the Lickey Hills might have gone on to inspire descriptions of the idyllic Shire…

More information on the life of J.R.R. Tolkien and his life in Birmingham can be found on these websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/tolkien.bcc

Tolkien Weekend 2009 is taking place on the 16th and 17th May and this years theme ‘Exploring Middle Earth’ at The Shire Country Park in Hall Green near to Sarehole Mill.