East Yorkshire is set to cast a fresh spell on fans of J.R.R. Tolkien this spring when it unveils new sculptures celebrating the area’s influence on the fantasy author’s early writing.
Recovering from Trench Fever during the first World War, Tolkien spent 18 months in Hull and East Yorkshire and the region’s landscape is widely believed to be the inspiration for some of his stories, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Visitors have been able to follow in his footsteps on a self-guided trail, The Tolkien Triangle, but now one of his most significant experiences is to be immortalised with two new sculptures in the village of Roos, between Hornsea and Withernsea.
Hand carved oak statues of the writer and his wife, Edith, will depict a treasured memory during the summer of 1917 when she danced for him in a wood close to the village.
The romantic act so impressed the young writer that he wove it into what would ultimately become Of Beren and Lúthien, a pivotal episode in The Silmarillion, a collection of tales and legends revealing the story of Middle-earth.
An account of the Elder Days, the First Age of Tolkien’s world, the first draft of this saga was created as early as August 1917, and the image of the two of them in the glade stayed with him for the rest of his life.
When his wife died in 1971, he had Lúthien inscribed on her headstone and after Tolkien’s death, in 1973, Beren was added under his name.
Created by Lincolnshire-based artist Allen Stichler, who specialises in hand-carved wood sculptures, the statues have been crafted in oak from the Sotterley Estate in Suffolk and are scheduled to be officially revealed later this spring.
One will show the young Tolkien standing in the woods and will be around eight-and-a-half feet high, while the second installation, beside it, will depict Edith dancing in silhouette etched into a thick oak slab.
This latest visitor attraction celebrating the best-selling author comes as Tolkien’s fantasy world gets a renewed cinema and TV boost, thanks to new productions hitting screens. Next year will see a fresh addition to The Lord of the Rings movie series, one of the biggest film franchises of all time, when actor Andy Serkis directs and stars in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, the first live-action film since Peter Jackson’s famous trilogy ended in 2014.
And Prime Video has announced that its TV series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – which attracted over 170 million viewers worldwide – will return for a third season, although no date has yet been announced.
More details about the sculptures’ opening will be revealed soon, and the current Tolkien Triangle trail, covering many of the towns and villages along the East Yorkshire coast that he visited during his convalescence from April 1917 to October 1918, will be updated to include the new sculptures (www.visiteastyorkshire.co.uk/listing/the-tolkien-triangle/204975101/).
A book, Tolkien in East Yorkshire 1917 – 1918: An Illustrated Tour, has also been written about the region’s connections by local author, Phil Mathison.
For more on East Yorkshire as a destination, see www.visiteastyorkshire.co.uk
