Moseley Bog
Moseley Bog is a woodland that lies just beside both Sarehole Mill and Tolkien’s Childhood home. Tolkien lived nearby from 1896 to 1901. It was here that Tolkien and his brother Hillary would roam and play, exploring the woods and little river that flow through the park. He would describe it later in life as “a kind of lost paradise…a wonderful dell with flowers…”
The area surrounding, known as the Shire Country Park, has developed rapidly since Tolkien lived near here in the early 20th century. The bog itself was nearly built over and destroyed before archaeologists named it a place of interest. Later, when a public trust was formed, the bog was permanently protected from destruction.
To Tolkien, this area would have been known as The Dell, as the name Moseley Bog only became popularized in 2000 through the campaign to save it. The bog however, has evidence of human activity dating back to the Bronze Age. Tolkien has admitted that this park and the neighboring mill both served as major inspirations for the more ancient forests within his works, and had a momentous impact on his life.
The bog itself is damp and quiet, and one can almost immediately forget that there is a thriving suburb that surrounds it. You sink into the soft dirt and mud with every step and it is only by the addition of wooden platforms that the bog is navigable. There is a smell of life here, vibrant and ancient, that saturates the air and fills the lungs.
Birds sing and tweet, and the only other sound than one’s breath is that of the water trickling by in the Coldbath Brook which runs through the reserve and then is diverted to Sarehole Mill itself. There are some oaks here that still stand from far beyond Tolkien’s time, some even reaching three to four hundred years in age. Some of these trees may have inspired his Ents, and some he may have even communed with. One only has to enter into this forest to see that fairie just might be real.
