The Standing Stone

[Priya]

What was the significance/purpose of the ‘stone’ at the center of the hollow in the Barrow-downs adventure?

“… they … went down into the hollow circle. In the midst of it stood a single stone, standing tall under the sun above, and at this hour casting no shadow. It was shapeless and yet significant: like a landmark or a guarding finger, or more like a warning.”

I presume Tom referenced it when at his abode:

“Don’t you go a-meddling with old stone or cold Wights …”.

and in poetry:

“… The cold stone is fallen; …”

I have my own theory about it - but what do others think?

[Mithadan]

My view of how the Standing Stone fits in the story is based upon Tom's explicit warning to the Hobbits. He "advised them to pass barrows by on the west-side, if they chanced to stray near one." The Hobbits ignored or forgot this warning. "It was shapeless and yet significant: like a landmark, or a guiding finger, or more like a warning. But they were now hungry, and the sun was still at the fearless noon; so they set their backs against the east side of the stone" and fell asleep. When they woke, "The standing stone was cold , and it cast a long pale shadow that stretched eastward over them." Having failed to heed Tom's warning to pass such markers to the west, they became ensnared.

One could argue that the Standing Stone was not a "barrow," itself. Yet, Tolkien was very specific about the warning and how the Hobbits failed to pass the Stone on the West.

I suspect that Priya's question here does not relate to how the Standing Stone fit into the narrative, but rather focuses upon the mythological significance of the Stone. However, the inspiration for the Stone and the barrows would clearly be Stonehenge and similar ancient sites in England.

[Priya]

Hello Mithadan

Thank you for pointing out how an eastern shadow lay over the slumbering hobbits after they’d propped themselves against its east facing side. Yes, direction was of supreme importance to Tolkien: the blessedness of the west versus Sauron’s threat in the east.

Actually, it’s more the logic of the tale I am initially interested in discussing. But I acknowledge your thoughts on our world’s similarities with regards to ancient monoliths.

But back to the story for a while. It’s curious that Tolkien decided that Tom would refer to the stone in the singular while pluralizing Wights. So I think the standing stone the hobbits encountered was the very one Tom was referring to.

“Don’t you go a-meddling with old stone or cold Wights …”.

At first I thought it must have had an enchantment placed on it: a sort of early warning system alerting the nearby Wight that ‘prey’ was approaching.

But I changed my mind!

There are whole a lot of strange things that happen in this chapter of the story. Nobody (at least to my research) seems able to provide ‘believable’ answers, which possess both consistency and give this part of the tale logical purpose. For instance:

Why a rounded hollowed-out hill with a rimmed mound?
Why was a single stone specifically placed at its center?
What was this fog that rolled in so suddenly after a blazing hot day and after the sun had just set?
What were the two stones that appeared like a headless door, yet had not been noticed earlier?
Why did darkness fall after Frodo went past them?
Why did Frodo’s pony bolt?
Why did the other hobbits not follow Frodo past the doorway?
Why was there no reply from them when Frodo called?
Why did their voices seem so far away after Frodo came back through the doorway?
What was the green light in the barrow that came up through the ground?
Why did Bombadil’s voice appear to come through the ground?
How did Bombadil appear so quickly in his rescue?
What happened to the stones making up the headless doorway?

And these are just some of the mysterious matters.
Was the story intentionally meant to have unexplainable facets, or was there more to it all that Tolkien never got round to telling us about?

Opinions and any enlightenment would be most welcome.

[Huinesoron]

Interesting. I'm not going to comment on the internal or metaphysical aspects, but the inspiration side is looking just as mysterious.

It is, I understand, established historical fact that the Great Barrow "is" Wayland's Smithy, about 30 miles from Stonehenge as the craban flies. I've driven there from the south, and you really do drive across the Barrow-Downs to get there. It's a fantastic monument on the landscape, but not associated with a hollow containing a single standing stone.

The obvious candidate in this part of the world would be a hill fort, and indeed, Uffington Castle is very close by. The famous chalk white horse doesn't directly appear in Middle-earth, though Rohan and the Prancing Pony both reflect it, and I understand Dragon Hill has been strongly linked to Weathertop. But... Uffington Castle is bigger and more complex than the "hollow circle" on the Downs, and doesn't have a standing stone.

Another key location nearby would be Lambourn Seven Barrows, within about 2 miles of Wayland's Smithy. These give a good picture of what a typical barrow on the Downs would look like, and I'm seeing descriptions of at least two of them as "shield" or "bowl" barrows - ie, you go up the mound and down into a hollow. There's no standing stones, though.

And neither of these options really makes me happy. You don't put a standing stone in the middle of a barrow, because that's where you put the dead people! And hill forts are normally much bigger than Tolkien's description sounds - you can fit a village inside them, so a single stone wouldn't really stand out, and you don't feel like you're in a hollow.

What we really want is a henge. Not a stone henge (Stonehenge itself is way off), but a henge in the original sense: a circular earth enclosure, smaller than a hill fort but larger than a bowl barrow - and, for our purposes, with a single standing stone in the centre. Something like Mayburgh Henge is a very good match, except for the minor fact that it's over 200 miles north of Wayland's Smithy and the real Barrow-Downs. I can't find anything close by.

So... slightly to my disappointment, despite "we fell asleep by the stone and then the kids got lost in the barrow" sounding exactly like the sort of family story Tolkien would have put in the book (see: every part of The Hobbit in the vicinity of the Misty Mountains), it looks like he might actually have made this one up. ^_^

(Though there is a survey marker on the east bank of Uffington Castle. It's not a traditional standing stone, but it's an impressive concrete monolith nonetheless... here's how it looks from inside the hill fort. Not perfect, but very close, and in exactly the right place; maybe my first idea was right all along.)

hS

[Priya]

Hello Huinesoron

Those links were very much appreciated. The one of Mayburgh Henge is, as you say, a great match - and I quite agree.

By the way, is there a ‘real’ English region (with a capital D) called the Barrow-Downs?




So with that - switching the conversation from the storyline back to a real world fit - I want to throw out to readers of this thread, an idea.

All the real-world examples (or more accurately - the vast majority) folk cite for the standing stone and stone rings in the Barrow-downs chapter tend to focus on English parallels. But although Tolkien might well have used his visits to Wayland’s Smithy and Lambourn Downs to include similar designs into the tale, perhaps his actual siting of them for the story was considered to be outside of ‘home’ territory?

One reason is that the barrows, stone rings and standing stone in the novel are, quite obviously, located outside of the Shire.

Tolkien said the following:

“ ‘The Shire’ is based on rural England and not any other country in the world …”, 

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #190 – 3 July 1956, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981 (Tolkien’s emphasis)

“Buckland … occupied a position with regard to the Shire such as Wales does to England; …”. 

– The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Appendix on Languages – pg. 50

I’m rather reminded here of one of Tom Shippey’s chapter titles in The Road to Middle-earth where he uses the term ‘A Cartographic Plot’.

Of course Tolkien equated some geography of Middle-earth with our world (e.g. Florence, ancient Troy & Oxford per Letter #294). So would it be beyond the realms of possibility that the Barrow-downs of our tale, lay in Tolkien’s mind, outside of mainland British borders (England & Wales) in the agglomerate land mass of Middle-earth?

The obvious candidates where monoliths are found in abundance close by to Britain are: France (Brittany) and Ireland. Could Tolkien have based the Barrow-downs locale on a region within one of these countries?

Please throw stones or even rocks if such an idea seems outrageous. But there again, if you’re going to do so - please provide some reasonable logic along with scholastically based criticism!

[Priya]

Well no pebbles thrown so far - let alone standing stones!

So below is what I think Tolkien may have modeled the shallow hill with its standing stones upon. It’s Ireland over France that I’ve selected.

The Historic Hill of Tara, County Meath, Ireland

Two rimmed mounds at the top of the Hill of Tara and a Barrow
(Mound on right with round saucer-like inner bowl,
 Mound on left with the ‘Stone of Destiny’, Barrow – upper right corner)





Lia Fáil: The ‘Stone of Destiny’ – atop Hill of Tara

So I think the hill of the novel was not meant to be an identical copy – but one whose resemblance was unmistakably akin to the knowledgeable. The shallow Irish hill in County Meath, I have a feeling, was ‘slightly’ modified in terms of architectural features for the tale. Instead of two distinct mounds at the top, Tolkien merged them together to make one:

“… shallow saucer with a green mounded rim.”
– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

The ditches and outer humps were discarded while the hollow turfed circle at the hill’s summit was kept. In the middle of the hollow Tolkien might well have placed the equivalent of Tara’s ‘Stone of Destiny’.

“It was shapeless and yet significant: like a landmark, or a guarding finger, …”.
– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

The Tara stone does have a finger-like shape. Though I’m perplexed as to how anything finger-like could be termed ‘shapeless’.


Any massive objections so far?

[Priya]

It is interesting to note that the Barrow-downs was a place of evil repute in hobbit lore:

“… the Barrow-downs had as sinister a reputation in hobbit-legend as the Forest itself.” 

– The Fellowship of the Ring, The Old Forest

If Tolkien had modeled the location of the Barrow-downs crisis on Tara in Ireland, then it would tie-in a remarkably frank and puzzling statement:

“In a 1979 transcription of a discussion on J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, George Sayer tells a remarkable story about Tolkien describing Ireland as ‘naturally evil.’ He could ‘feel,’ Sayer relates, ‘evil coming up from the earth, from the peat bogs, from the clumps of trees, even from the cliffs, and this evil was only held in check by the great*devotion of the southern Irish*to their religion.’ ”. 

– Perilous Realms, Two North’s and Their English Blend – pg. 19, M. Burns, 2005

One might wonder whether fellow Inkling’s member, Warren Lewis, expressed such a feeling about Ireland at a club meeting, and Tolkien took note:

“There is something wrong with this country – some sullen brooding presence over it, a vague sense of something mean and cruel and sinister: …”. 

– Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of Major Warren Hamilton Lewis, Diary entry: 9 August 1933 – pg. 111, Editors C. Kilby & M.L. Mead, 1982

Ireland too has its fair share of ancient stone rings - reputedly over 300. An example is shown below.

‘Drombeg Circle’ – County Cork, Ireland

Notably, the 5,000 year old neolithic barrow at Tara, nearby its famous standing stone, is also reminiscent of the Wight’s dwelling. Not just because it is known as ‘The Mound of the Hostages’ - which is curious enough; but because its entrance faces ‘east’. And by invoking the Sun’s energy at dawn as it rose in the east – the Wight was evicted from the Barrow:

“… Vanish in the sunlight!”
– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

‘The Mound of the Hostages’, Tara

Now I don’t know why it’s known as the ‘Mound of the Hostages’. I haven’t dug deep enough - but readily available information on the Internet appears scant. From what I can tell, its naming dates back to medieval times. In any case, the idea is worth considering that Tolkien made use of the title to make it meaningful for his own tale - don’t you think?

[Priya]

Now it’s not just the hill of Tara, which I think Tolkien modeled the Barrow-downs midday halt location upon. I have a strong suspicion that Tolkien also represented from Arthurian lore - Sir Gawain’s quest destination: the ‘Green Chapel’.

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – the Green Chapel in Tolkien’s (& Gordon’s) own words was:

“… nothing else than a fairy mound; …”. 

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Note to Line 151, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925

“… a hollow green mound.”
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Introduction – pg. ix, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925

Illustration from ‘MS Cotton Nero A.x’

It was barely more than a hillock of grass featuring a depression. As such, the eerie location resonates with the shallow hill which the hobbits encountered soon after leaving Tom and Goldberry. Once again, I repeat from the chapter:

“About mid-day they came to a hill whose top was wide and flattened, like a shallow saucer …”.
– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

The slope being mild enough to ride their ponies up meant that it was just a gentle tumulus. After riding across they decided to turn and descend:

“… into the hollow circle.” 

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

So, subtly placed in the Barrow-downs adventure are indications of a similar sacred feature (to Tara and the Green Chapel) in the landscape. Yet not sacred to pagans (or obviously Christians) – but, with its standing stone, perhaps instead to fairy-folk? So what I’m advocating is that Tolkien pictured for his tale another ‘fairy mound’. And it was to both Celtic/Arthurian legends and perhaps we can say: fairy tale, that he turned to for the halt in the journey.

But what exactly is a fairy mound? And why a standing stone in its midst?

To the former - I tried looking up dictionary definitions. The New English Dictionary, which Tolkien worked on before his 1925 Sir Gawain & the Green Knight work, is of little help. So I turned to Google AI instead:

AI Overview

A faerie mound, also known as a fairy hill or fairy fort, is a folklore term, particularly prevalent in Irish and Scottish Gaelic traditions. These mounds are often associated with ancient earthworks like ringforts, hillforts, or burial mounds, and are believed to be homes or portals to the Otherworld, inhabited by fairies, or aos sí. Many believe that disturbing these mounds can bring bad luck or even curses.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Priya

Hello Huinesoron

Those links were very much appreciated. The one of Mayburgh Henge is, as you say, a great match - and I quite agree.

By the way, is there a ‘real’ English region (with a capital D) called the Barrow-Downs?

There is not, but it's definitely there anyway. I have previously described driving and walking across the Berkshire/North Wessex Downs, which are exactly the countryside Tolkien described. It's positively eerie how horizonless they are; the land is just this smooth rolling surface in all directions. And it is absolutely studded with barrows; every hilltop seems to have either a barrow or two, or a line of trees. I'm utterly convinced this is what Tolkien was describing when he talked about the Barrow-Downs.

(From Oxford, he would cross them going south, for instance if travelling to Stonehenge. In that thread I compare the northern edge of the Berkshire Downs to the exit from the Barrow-Downs; nothing is perfect.)

Originally Posted by Priya

The Historic Hill of Tara, County Meath, Ireland [/center]

[...]

The Tara stone does have a finger-like shape. Though I’m perplexed as to how anything finger-like could be termed ‘shapeless’.

Okay, Tara is a strong find. It's one of very few Irish locations I could name, and the only one I know is associated with a battle, so it has the cultural presence to show up in Tolkien's works. The fact that merging the two perfectly creates the hollow-and-stone is very nice. And the stone is both finger-like and shapeless - or rather unshaped, as in not carved or worked. It may not be right, but it's a good possibility.

Originally Posted by Priya

But what exactly is a fairy mound? And why a standing stone in its midst?

And fairy-mounds are, folklorically, based (at least partly) on barrows. It's far from the only entry into the hollow hills in Tolkien: Menegroth, Nargothrond, and Mirkwood are all classic "the Elves live underground, and mortals who enter emerge changed and enchanted" fairy-mounds, and it's hard not to see the same DNA in Amon Rûdh, Henneth Annûn, or even Bag-End. (I have to exclude the various dwarf-mines and burrows and fortresses of evil... the Paths of the Dead, the gates of Gondolin, the Glittering Caves... wow, Tolkien really put a lot of stuff underground!) The Great Barrow isn't even the only one that puts the characters to sleep, either - Bilbo's fall does the same, leading to his encounter with Gollum, and there's magical sleep associated with both Mirkwood (the river) and Menegroth (Beren).

But as far as I know, there's no particular association of fairy-mounds with standing stones on them... probably because that isn't a thing in England, as I discovered last post (to my surprise!).

hS

[Priya]

Hello Huinesoron

I quite understand how your personal experience of the Downs in actual English counties left a deep impact. Deep enough that it ought to have had a memorable effect on Tolkien too. So, I agree, it would not be at all surprising if his personal vision for the novel’s localized countryside followed suit. Nevertheless, now that we have an inkling that one particular hill of our tale has a decent connection to Ireland’s Tara - it’s worthwhile contemplating whether other links can be uncovered.

But firstly, from my previous post - I much prefer to explore links to ‘fairies’ of the ‘fairy mound’. One idea I get from TLotR text is an underlying picture of little legendary creatures beneath a mushroom:

“The fog rolled up to the walls and rose above them, and as it mounted it bent over their heads until it became a roof: they were shut in a hall of mist whose central pillar was the standing stone.”
– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

The Intruder, John Anster Fitzgerald, 1860

Do any other readers get the same kind of notion come to their minds? And then does Tom and Goldberry’s cavorting around the dining table leave an impression of fairies dancing in a circular fashion?

“… in some fashion they seemed to weave a single dance, neither hindering the other, in and out of the room, and round about the table; …”.
- The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

In combination, is that the sort of impression Tolkien wanted to leave?
Was his tale meant to be the origin of our world’s superstitions about ‘fairy rings’ and connected folklore to mushrooms?

A Mushroom Ring - A Natural Phenomenon

Pondering deeper on fairy connections, we also have the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tale - where Lord Bertilak (and presumably his wife) are:

“… fay-magic folk …”,

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper

Central to that fairy-story is the hollow hill of the Green Chapel and the lady’s ownership of a ‘green girdle’. It is a magical item which will protect its possessor from any deadly or injurious blow:

“For whoever goes girdled with this green riband, while he keeps it well clasped closely about him, there is none so hardy under heaven that to hew him were able; for he could not be killed by any cunning of hand.”
– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

Beyond coincidence is Tom’s remarkable possession of one too!

“green were his girdle and his breeches all of leather;”.

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, 1962 release

Hmm … was Tom practically invincible in battle? Is that why he came across as so cock-sure? So then, was Tom the original owner of the green girdle and thus conceived as a ‘fay’ creature? Is that a reasonable possibility? Back in 1934 at his first public release in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, he certainly exhibited powers beyond that of mortals or elven-kind!

I really do not want this thread to descend into a discussion about Bombadil, but a ‘supernatural’ Tom certainly has knowledge about the standing stone and its perilous nature:

“ ‘Don’t you go a-meddling with old stone …’ “.
-The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

Nevertheless, in the next couple of posts, I will try to outline additional evidence pointing to Tom being of the fay race himself. I will try to be as succinct as possible. However I think a little discussion of such sorts is needed, if readers are to align themselves with perhaps a new/different line of thinking. For beneficially to us - there exist several clues that Tom is connected to Tara of legend. This may help us in the road to understanding why Tolkien included the standing stone. Because, it seems to me that textually much unrealized substructure exists behind this segment of the tale - knowledge of which will help fill a void, and make the Barrow-downs episode all the more satisfying.