Before I catch up on all the replies, I want to respond directly to Child's initial post.
As can be guessed from the kinds of topics I have started and spent a lot of time on, I heartily agree that the evocation of primordial England is one of the primary beauties of LotR in particular, and the Legendarium in general.
Perhaps I have been bothered by something like what you're suggesting, and have therefore spent my time on the threads I have.
As I have said elsewhere, I think primordial England is most clearly evoked in
The Hobbit, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wooton Major, and those parts of LotR closest to the Shire. I do not find it much in The Sil, nor in
Unfinished Tales; I haven't done enough reading in the HoME to comment intelligently.
Not being of the UK, my speculation hardly counts, but some might say that the reason one might go to New Zealand is because primordial England is too faint in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Yes? No?
Quote:
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Why was England, of all the countries of northern Europe, the one to lose most from its ancient past?
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Sorry if any of this has already been sufficiently covered, but I must comment on this quote. It presupposes more than it can claim to know. The subject is the ancient past, that is, primordial England. Who can say that England has lost any more than, say, France, or Spain, or Germany? Spain in particular has been far more of a highway and stopping point for conquering cultures than England.
Nevertheless, the above is merely a quibble.
Your point, Child, is, in general, well taken. Maybe the single element of primordial England is the one thing I keep missing in all other fantasy and so keep coming back to Tolkien.