Sash M-Waite

Staff Writer

@SashDoesDoodles

One of JRR Tolkien’s favourite trees is to be cut down.

The Oxford Botanic Garden has said that it plans to cut down one of its magnificent black pine trees for safety reasons.
Two large limbs fell from the tree recently and the council and university have had to make a difficult decision, with them opting to cut it down to stop it from endangering visitors and staff.

The tree was allegedly one of Tolkien’s favourites, and may have inspired the spectacular Ents in his Lord of the Ring’s trilogy.

Dr Stuart Lee, editor of A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien and a lecturer at the University, commented on the significance of trees for Tolkien:

“Tolkien hated the wanton destruction of trees for no reason but it sounds to me like this is for all the right reasons so whilst this is sad news, it is inevitable.
It is often said that the black pine inspired the ‘ents’ in Lord of the Rings, and it may be he liked the tree and saw something it in that inspired Treebeard, but in fact the ‘ents’ have many sources and ‘ent’ means giant in Old English, and Tolkien’s love of trees goes all the way back to his childhood.”

Dr Alison Foster, the director of the garden has said they plan to celebrate Tolkien’s connection to the tree. She said;
“We intend to propagate from this magnificent tree so that future generations will not miss out on this important link to Tolkien. We are considering using the wood from the black pine for an educational project along the lines of the One Oak project and hope to hold a celebratory event to commemorate the tree and its many associations in due course.”

Courtesy Of Jim Linwood

Oxford Botanic Gardens has contacted the Tolkien society so they can decide sort of project to undergo.

Many believe that an alternative method could have been used so that the tree could be spared. What do you think?

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