Middle Earth Furniture was formed in the heart of rural Staffordshire, England, just a few miles from the village of Great Haywood where Tolkien first wrote of Middle-Earth.

Cannock Chase Staffordshire - click for larger pictures.

J.R.R. Tolkien came to Staffordshire in August 1915 when he served his Military training at an Army camp on the ancient forest and Royal hunting ground of Cannock Chase, Stafford. The military camp near Brocton was situated on the high ground of the 100 square miles of the chase with its rolling moorland, unusual rock formations and far reaching views leading to dense forest all around. In March 1916 Tolkien married Edith Bratt and they moved into accommodation in Great Haywood, a small village on the edge of the Chase. Walking from the camp to his wife's house at the Presbytery in Great Haywood Tolkien would have passed through the many changing wild landscapes of the chase and past the great sessile oaks of Brocton Coppice, many of which still stand at over 1000 years old. The name Cannock itself comes from the Old English words 'Cann' meaning powerful and 'Aic' meaning oak. In later works Tolkien describes the Ents or 'Ondorim' in similar terms; "Their strength was immense and they could display enormous force".

In June, his training over, Tolkien was posted to Etaple in France to serve in the Great War. On the 1st of July 1916, the first day of the Battle Of The Somme, Tolkien's Battalion was in reserve but on the 14th, exactly one month after he was posted to France, Tolkien and 'B' company went into action against German positions at a village called Ovillers. The attack was not successful and the Battalion sustained heavy losses from machine gun fire. British losses were enormous over the following months but Tolkien was not destined to "see it through". On the 27th of October 1916 he was struck down by trench fever and returned to England to convalesce and was reunited with his wife Edith in Great Haywood for Christmas 1916. Some of his closet friends did not return.

The Presbytery, Great Haywood.
Tolkien's Staffordshire home on the edge of Cannock Chase.

It was during this period of convalescence that Tolkien first wrote of Middle-Earth and began to create his ‘Mythology for England’ which grew into the saga the Lord of the Rings. Tales of great battles and the constant struggle of good against evil set in a detailed and ancient landscape came at a time when he had just experienced the full horrors of war and these stories were later released as part of the Book Of Lost Tales and the Silmarilion. One 'The Fall Of Gondolin' is an account of the siege of the last Elvish fortress by Morgoth, the prime power of evil.

The bridge spanning two rivers that Tolkien would have crossed to reach his house in
Great Haywood from Cannock Chase.

As Tolkien's home before and after his experience in the Great War it is quite possible to see how time spent on the constantly changing and wild landscapes of Cannock Chase the forest of the 'powerful oaks' with its 100 square miles of wild scenery, thick forests, steep valleys, glacial boulders and ancient trees would have proved an inspiration for the landscape of Middle-Earth.

Jon Broberg 2003.
Thanks to David Howell for Historical contributions.