Buckland, also known as the East March, was a small but densely populated sliver of land located between the Old Forest and the east bank of the Brandywine River, which separated the region from the Shire. Although the Shire-folk colonized it, Buckland was not officially part of the Shire and instead functioned as an independent territory.
History[]
Buckland was settled around TA 2340 (SR 740) when Gorhendad Oldbuck, an ancestor of Meriadoc Brandybuck, crossed the Brandywine River from the Eastfarthing and started the building of Brandy Hall on Buck Hill in a land hitherto unpopulated by Hobbits.
As Gorhendad's family grew, Brandy Hall also expanded, and soon there was a flourishing community in the land between the Brandywine River and the Old Forest. From that time on, Buckland was ruled by the Brandybucks, as Gorhendad renamed his family to reflect their new relationship with the river. Gorhendad thus became the first Master of Buckland.[2]
Map of the Shire and surrounding lands
The village of Bucklebury, lying close by Buck Hill, was the chief village of Buckland,[2] but with the expanding population, many other villages soon grew up in the region, the largest of which were Newbury, Crickhollow and Standelf. The growing power of the Master of Buckland gained the respect of many Hobbits close by in the Eastfarthing; the lands of the Marish between Stock and Rushey also acknowledged themselves under the sway of Brandy Hall.[3]
The Bucklanders soon found themselves threatened by the strange trees of the Old Forest, and so built a vast hedge, the High Hay, stretching twenty miles along the eastern border of their land.[4] This was not the only danger to threaten Buckland - in TA 2911, the year of the Fell Winter, the Brandywine froze and Buckland was invaded by the White Wolves.[5][6]
Buckland was the childhood home of Frodo Baggins,[7] who returned here on his journey to Bree in TA 3018.[8] He bought a house in Crickhollow, and claimed that he would be living there,[9] but instead entered the Old Forest through the old private[8] gate of the Brandybucks through the High Hay, and left the Shire.[10]
Because Buckland was east of the Brandywine, it was not part of the land granted by to the hobbits by King Argeleb II of Arthedain, and was indeed formed over 300 years after Arthedain ceased to exist. Buckland may actually have been in what used to be considered part of Cardolan and may never have belonged to Arthedain, further making its colonization an independent action by the Hobbits. Thus, Buckland was essentially a small independent country of Hobbits, mostly of the Brandybuck family.
Geography & villages[]
Buckland was located east of the Brandywine River. The hobbits living in Buckland grew a hedge to protect themselves against any evil that may have snuck through the near Old Forest, which bordered Buckland to the east. This "wall" was named the High Hay. Buckland was bordered in the north by the Hay Gate, the only entrance to Buckland near the Brandywine Bridge. In the south, the borders of Buckland followed the High Hay until the Withywindle joined the Brandywine near the village of Haysend. The most notable settlement of Buckland was Bucklebury, where Brandy Hall was located. Brandy Hall was the home of the Master of Buckland, one of the chief officials of the Shire.
An important landmark was Bucklebury Ferry, a raft-ferry used as the second main crossing point of the Brandywine river from the Shire to Buckland (the first being the Brandywine Bridge, which was twenty miles further north). It was left unmanned to be used by hobbit travelers as needed. In route to the new house at Crickhollow, Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took crossed using the Ferry just before the arrival of a Black Rider, who was forced to go around to the Brandywine Bridge as there were no boats kept on the western bank of the river.
Culture[]
The Bucklanders were a prudent hobbit tribe, and their readiness for danger made them less naïve than Shire-hobbits. Each night, they would close the Hay Gate and their front doors, prepared to rush to arms if the Horn of Buckland blew. Most Bucklanders were originally of Stoor descent, and they were the only Hobbits known to use boats.[11]
Other versions[]
Tolkien stated in the Prologue of The Lord of the Rings that:
Outside the Farthings were the East and West Marches: the Buckland; and the Westmarch added to the Shire in SR 1452.
In earlier editions, that sentence does not have a semicolon, thus making the sentence imply that Buckland was definitely added to the Shire alongside the Westmarch.
Therefore, when Tolkien added the semicolon to the quote above, the sentence no longer implied that Buckland was added to the Shire when "the Westmarch added to the Shire". This addition of a semicolon made the Prologue more consistent with various other references. For instance, when Appendix B mentions that the Westmarch was added to the Shire in FO 31, there is no mention of Buckland being added as well.
Despite this change, however, many notable reference works, such as Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-earth[12] and Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-earth,[13] already made use of the older edition, referring to Buckland as the "Eastmarch" of the Shire, though the correct term in any case was "East March".
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Bokland |
| Chinese | 雄鹿地 |
| Czech | Rádovsko |
| Danish | Bukland |
| Dutch | Bokland |
| Finnish | Bukinmaa |
| French | Pays de Bouc |
| Georgian | ბაკლენდი |
| German | Bockland |
| Greek | Μπάκλαντ |
| Hebrew | באקלנד |
| Hungarian | Bakfölde |
| Italian | Landaino |
| Persian | باکلند |
| Portuguese (Brazil Portuguese) | Buqueburgo ou Terra dos Buques (Portugal) |
| Russian | Бэкланд |
| Slovenian | Buškinje |
| Spanish | Los Gamos |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Цапокрай |
|
Middle-earth Locations:
Provinces/Regions: Arnor | Dunland | Ettenmoors | Forochel | Forodwaith | Gondor | Harad | Ithilien | Khand | Lindon | Minhiriath | Mordor | Rhovanion | Rhûn | Rivendell | Rohan | The Shire Forests & Mountains: Amon Dîn | Amon Hen | Amon Lhaw | Caradhras | Emyn Muil | Erebor | Fangorn Forest | High Pass | Iron Hills | Lórien | Mirkwood | Mount Doom | Mount Gundabad | Old Forest | Orod-na-Thôn | Tower Hills | Weathertop Hill City/Fortifications: Angband | Barad-dûr | Bree | Caras Galadhon | Dol Guldur | Fornost Erain | Hornburg | Isengard | Khazad-dûm (Moria) | Minas Morgul | Minas Tirith | Last Homely House | Tower of Amon Sûl | Tower of Orthanc | Osgiliath | Umbar | Utumno Miscellaneous: Argonath | Astulat | Buckland | Cair Andros | Dagorlad | Dead Marshes | Enedwaith | Fords of Isen | Gap of Rohan | Grey Havens The rest of Arda:
Aman | Burnt Land of the Sun | Dark Land | Empty Lands | Neldoreth | New lands | Númenor | Tol Eressëa |
References[]
- ↑ The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, "The Broken Bridge"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. V: "A Conspiracy Unmasked", fourth paragraph
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. V: "A Conspiracy Unmasked", fifth paragraph
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. V: "A Conspiracy Unmasked", sixth paragraph
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One: "A Knife in the Dark", seventh paragraph
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two: "The Ring Goes South"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. I: "A Long-expected Party", sixteenth paragraph
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. V: "A Conspiracy Unmasked"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. III: "Three is Company", seventeenth paragraph
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. VI: "The Old Forest"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. I: "A Long-expected Party"
- ↑ The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, p. 57 entry "Buckland"
- ↑ The Atlas of Middle-earth, p. 69, The Shire