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Map Middle-earth

Dwelling · The Shire

Crickhollow

The house in Buckland Frodo bought as a cover story, and the first target of the Nazgûl

Appears in
The Lord of the Rings
Region
The Shire
Journeys passing through
1
Crickhollow on the map of Middle-earth

Crickhollow stands in a lane behind the Hedge of Buckland, a low house with a garden, set apart from the village of Bucklebury and close to the High Hay that shuts out the Old Forest. On the map it is east of the Brandywine, on the strip of hobbit country that Buckland occupies between river and forest.

Merry and Fredegar Bolger bought and furnished it as cover: Frodo was supposedly moving back to the Brandybuck country of his childhood. The hobbits spent one night there, on 25 September TA 3018, and it was in that house that Merry, Pippin and Sam admitted they had been conspiring for months and knew about the Ring.

When Frodo's party went into the Old Forest the next morning, Fatty Bolger stayed to keep up the pretence. Three Riders came to the house in the dark hours of 30 September. Fatty fled and raised the Horn-call of Buckland, which woke the whole country, and the Riders rode off empty-handed. Merry and Pippin lived at Crickhollow for a while after the War of the Ring.

Events at this place

  1. TA 3018, September 25 · The Lord of the Rings

    The conspiracy unmasked

    On the night of 25 September Merry told Frodo that his friends knew about the Ring and intended to come with him.

  2. TA 3018, September 30 · The Lord of the Rings

    The Riders raid the house

    Three Nazgûl broke into Crickhollow before dawn on 30 September. Fredegar Bolger escaped and roused Buckland with the horn-call.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Crickhollow on the Middle-earth map?

In Buckland, east of the Brandywine and north of Bucklebury, close to the High Hay that fences off the Old Forest.

Why did Frodo buy a house at Crickhollow?

As a disguise. Selling Bag End and moving to Buckland made his departure look like an ordinary retirement rather than a flight from the Shire.