18/06/2026
For many years we have often heard the story that Crickhowell was the inspiration for Crickhollow in J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, there has never been any documentary evidence to substantiate this claim. Now a letter, written by Tolkien to a fan in 1966, has come to light and has finally given us all the evidence we need.
In the letter the author writes: ‘the place names I use are made up from English models or borrowed from books, though Crickhollow was actually meant to resemble Crickhowell’. Finally, we can claim Crickhowell’s part in Lord of the Rings!
In the first book of the trilogy, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, published in 1952, Tolkien describes Crickhollow as ‘a pleasant, comfortable, welcoming place; and [Frodo] found himself wishing that he was really coming here to settle down in quiet retirement.’ Seventy-two years later, we don’t think Crickhowell has changed that much at all.
The letter is being auctioned at Christie’s with an estimated price of between £5000-7000, although we think it will go for a lot more than that. We would love to bring this piece of literary history ‘home’ to Crick(howell/hollow), but fear it is a bit beyond our budget. So if anyone knows someone with more treasure than Smaug the dragon, do get them to put a bid in our behalf!
