A large building that stood on the western side of the road from Hobbiton to the Hill. It consisted of a two-storey building on the road itself, connected to a series of wings that enclosed a yard. A 'grange' was traditionally used as a storehouse of grain, and though the Old Grange was much grander than a simple barn, it seems to have partly retained this connection (in his illustrations of Hobbiton - seen in J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator - Tolkien showed the Grange surrounded by large haystacks). This perhaps implies a connection with the Old Mill, which stood just a little to the south of the Grange on the Water.
Whatever the Old Grange's purpose, it came to an end during the War of the Ring. At that time it was demolished, and in its place a series of sheds were erected.
Notes
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The location and form shown on this map is based on several images reproduced in J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator, each showing a view across the Water and up to Hobbiton Hill, with the Old Grange prominent in the foreground. Some of the architecture of the grange is hidden by trees in these images, so it is difficult to be certain of its shape. It appears to consist of a tall structure running along the Hill Road, with four lower wings joining into a square shape, enclosing a courtyard to the rear of the main building.
The detailed map of the Shire in The Lord of the Rings does not show any structure that quite matches the Old Grange as illustrated elsewhere, but it does show a single long building running along the road north from the Water, which perhaps represents the larger of grange's four interconnected wings.
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- Updated 20 February 2019
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