Part two: Local landmarks
In this clip historian Chris Upton visits important locations in Tolkien’s early life, including the Plough and Harrow hotel, the Oratory and the “Two Towers” of Edgbaston. Brian Gambles from the Library of Birmingham talks about the value the Library places on providing historical context for literature in Birmingham. Philip Benjamin-Coker, community librarian from the Weoley Castle Library discusses his appreciation of Tolkien’s work.
Video Transcription
Chris Upton
My name is Chris Upton I'm a historian and interested in the literary connections of Birmingham and this is a perfect spot for them. We're in Plough and Harrow Road alongside the hotel an area very important to Tolkien's life. The night before Tolkien went off to the first world war he stayed for his honeymoon in the Plough and Harrow Hotel next to us. So this part of Ladywood, was very important to Tolkien and for the rest of his life and certainly when he was writing his books we've got the two towers that were the inspiration for the second volume of lord of the rings and you can see the two towers in front of us. Perrott's Folly the 18th century one and then the more elaborate tower of Edgbaston Waterworks behind it.
I'm here at the Oratory on the Hagley Road, which was close to Tolkien's heart. He lived in three houses within a few hundred yards of here at Duchess Road and Stirling Road as well. Tolkien's mother converted to Catholicism and Tolkien remained catholic for the rest of his life, after Mable Tolkien's death, after his mother's death it was Father Morgan one of the priests at the oratory who took the two sons, Hilary and John Ronald under his wing. It was clearly a huge influence and those two influences, his mother and the Catholic Church remain central to Tolkien for the rest of his life. So we're looking at the house which was the last house that Tolkien lived in Birmingham shortly before going to Oxford and right opposite the Plough and Harrow close to the Oratory and on a tram route that took him into King Edwards School in the centre of Birmingham.
Brian Gambles
My name is Brian Gambles, I'm responsible for the Library of Birmingham. I think it's hugely important that we maintain and develop collections which provide the context for literary inspiration and that that background to an author and his works which is so important - the formative years, the environment, the changing environment in which an author grew up. And Tolkien was of course was famously hugely influenced by the Birmingham that he grew up in, the changes that he saw in the city, and the physical features that provided much of the inspiration for his stories.
The library has huge collections of documentary photographic collections which provide the context for the changing city and indeed the changing counties surrounding the city, the urban and the rural environment, that would have been such an influence on Tolkien and we know this of course from his work that that gradual change from predominantly rural to much more assertively urban society does feature very heavily in his works.
Philip Benjamin-Coker
Hello, I'm Philip Benjamin-Coker, I'm the Community Librarian here at Weoley Castle Library and we have a display on at the moment to celebrate the release of The Hobbit film. Every time I read The Lord of the Rings, more so than The Hobbit - The Hobbit is really a children's book, and I will read it again, in fact I read it this year again, I guess I've read it maybe four or five times (from beginning to end). The Lord of the Rings on the other hand is perennial, I mean I read The Lord of the Rings once a year, I think the reason that the books have resonated so well is because of the feeling of history and the depth of history. I wouldn't say it's the greatest book of the twentieth century but it's got to be up there with all the really great works.
