Fern Cottage

On the edge of the grounds of the Birmingham Oratory there stands a small house known as Fern Cottage. During Tolkien’s childhood it was occupied by the local postman and his wife. When Mabel Tolkien’s diabetes worsened, she and her sons relocated to the cottage where they could rent some space from the couple. It was here at Fern Cottage that Mabel would later pass away.

Fern Cottage played an integral role in Tolkien’s youth. He longed for the days when he lived in the countryside at Sarehole. While staying at Fern Cottage, he and Hilary had the freedom to roam about the Oratory grounds. In many ways this renewed in him a love for nature, and it allowed him nearly unfettered access to Father Francis who was to become a figure of utmost importance later in Tolkien’s life.

The most striking feature of Fern Cottage, in my opinion, is its size. What one does not gain from photos is how very small it is. The front door is roughly five feet in height, and the front bay window sits about two feet off the ground. Everything seems just slightly smaller than it ought to be. But what it lacks in size is made up for with significance. In this tiny cottage Tolkien’s life changed forever; it was here that his mother died.

Tolkien was only twelve when his mother died. She left him with three important things: faith, language, and fairy tales. She taught him to love them as a child, and they became the core of his life’s work. With the invention of Middle-earth and its mythology Tolkien created a work of art that ties together everything his mother taught him. It was a way in which he could honor her memory and finish the work she began in him. In some way it seems as though Tolkien needed to write as he did in order to effectively grieve. His large body of work is the end product of many events which can be traced back to this tiny cottage.