The city of Birmingham was perhaps the most influential place for Tolkien and his works. The city itself has a long history of farming, markets, and industry, and also was the setting for many of Tolkien’s personal and early familial experiences. Not only did Tolkien spend his formative years around the city, but both his parents also spent much of their lives in the area and thus it gave Tolkien a physical place to connect to those he lost so early in life. As he moved houses quite often, Tolkien experienced much of both the city and the country-side, and these places often manifested in his literary works. Not only can certain landmarks of Birmingham be recognized in his works, but so too can some of the themes that pervade his Legendarium. The city today is England’s second most populous city after of London -- a development that Tolkien himself would have seen during his time in Birmingham. The move from small markets and farming to heavy industry is a theme often seen as harmful and wrong in Tolkien’s works, and that perception stems from the industrialization he observed here in his early life as well as an adult looking back on his paved over childhood haunts.

Unfortunately, our group was unable to visit the new location of King Edward's and just drove by with a sort of vague "there it is." The old location, however, is now a building of shops and apartment space that has kept King Edward's name. It is smack in the center of New Street, just minutes from New Street Station, St. Philip's Cathedral, Victoria Square, Birmingham's famous shopping center known as the Bull Ring, and the Apple store, which is worth a look if only because it is housed in a beautiful old building that once housed a prestigious bank. Though most of these sights would not have existed in Tolkien's time, it is still easy to imagine the varied entertainment that would have been just a short walk or bike ride away from the school here in the heart of the city.

In 1988, the medieval structure atop the hill was rebuilt, and today it houses an intricately carved toposcope that signifies the gift of Beacon Hill to the city of Birmingham. The toposcope indicates the directions of other beacon hills in relation to The Beacon Hill, and provides a geological overview of the surrounding Lickey Hills area.

On November 14th, 1904, Mabel Tolkien, mother of John Ronald Ruel Tolkien and Hillary Tolkien, passed away after falling into a diabetic coma. She died in Fern Cottage, Rednal, in the presence of her sister and Father Francis Morgan, who became the Tolkien boys' new guardian. Father Francis made arrangements for the boys to be sent to live with their aunt, Beatrice Suffield, until alternative housing could be found. Mabel was buried in a plot behind St. Peter's Church in Bromsgrove, the closest available Catholic cemetery.