- Cities and buildings
- Fields, plains and deserts
- Forests
- Hills and mountains
- Islands and promontories
- Lands, realms and regions
- Rivers and lakes
- Seas and oceans
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Dates
Location
Origins
Race
Culture
Settled by Hobbits of the Shire
Family
The Fairbairns became hereditary Wardens of Westmarch
Settlements
Meaning
A march is a borderland, so 'Westmarch' refers to the western borderland of the Shire
Other names
Sometimes seen separated with a space as 'West March'
Note
Not to be confused with the West-march of Rohan, far to the south, or the West March of Doriath in Beleriand
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![]() The Westmarch of the Shire (conjectural)1
The Westmarch of the Shire (conjectural)1
From the time of its founding, the western border of the Shire had been marked by a line of low rolling hills known as the Far Downs. In the east, the border had traditionally been the River Brandywine, though Gorhendad Oldbuck eventually settled a new eastern 'march' (that is, a borderland) beyond the river in Buckland. In the year IV 312 (or 1452 by the Shire-reckoning), some years after the War of the Ring, King Elessar granted the Shire a new 'march' in the west, including the lands beyond the Far Downs as far as the Tower Hills. This new land was named simply the 'Westmarch', and was quickly settled by Hobbits out of the Shire. Thain Peregrin appointed a Warden to oversee the Westmarch, a position somewhat equivalent to that of the Master of Buckland in the east. Fastred of Greenholm, husband to Sam Gamgee's daughter Elanor, was made the first3 of these Wardens. Fastred and Elanor settled at Undertowers on the Tower Hills, and their son Elfstan Fairbairn succeeded his father as Warden. From this beginning, the Fairbairns, hereditary Wardens of Westmarch, would become one of the most influential families in the Shire. They were especially important from a historical point of view, because it was at Undertowers that they preserved the Red Book, the original historical texts holding the stories that would become The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.4 Notes
See also...Elanor Gamgee, Elf-towers, Elfstan Fairbairn, Elostirion, Far Downs, Fastred of Greenholm, Folklands, Four Farthings, Fourth Age, Gamgee Family, Greenholm, Red Book of the Periannath, Shire-reckoning, The Towers, The Towers, [See the full list...] Indexes: About this entry:
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