Crickhollow

A village in the northern parts of Buckland. It lay some two-and-a-half miles to the north and east of Bucklebury, and a similar distance to the south of the village of Newbury. It was also notable as being close to the great Hedge that the Bucklanders had built to protect themselves from the strange trees of the Old Forest.

Crickhollow's closeness to the eastern edge of the Hobbit-lands was part of the reason that Frodo Baggins bought a house there, to cover his secret departure from the Shire. Though Frodo and his friends only stayed in his new house overnight, Fredegar Bolger remained behind in disguise to hide Frodo's departure. This subterfuge almost worked too well: five days after Frodo's departure, three Black Riders raided the house, but Fredegar was able to raise the alarm and they were driven away. Later that same day, Gandalf arrived at Crickhollow in search of Frodo, but found that the new house had been abandoned.

The house at Crickhollow was not forgotten when the Travellers returned from the southern lands. For a time, they even considered resting there before riding on into the Shire itself, but the ruin caused by Sharkey put an end to those plans. After Sharkey was destroyed, Frodo Baggins found himself once more the owner of Bag End. Unneeded by its owner, the house at Crickhollow was shared by Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took for a time.²