Places in Middle-earth
Longbottom
Type: Valleys, Caves, Tunnels
Region: Bree/The Shire
Meaning: Long valley
Location: A fertile valley in the Southfarthing, famed for the cultivation of pipe-weed.
Description:
When Hobbits first began to smoke is not known.... But all accounts agree that Tobold Hornblower of Longbottom in the Southfarthing first grew the true pipe-weed in his gardens.... The best home-grown still comes from that district, especially the varieties now known as Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, and Southern Star.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Prologue, Concerning Pipe-weed
[In] the North,... [pipe-weed] is never found wild, and flourishes only in warm sheltered places like Longbottom.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Prologue, Concerning Pipe-weed
[Said] Cotton. 'There's a good few [ruffians] down south in Longbottom and by Sarn Ford, I hear....'
The Return of the King, LoTR Book 6, Ch 8, The Scouring of the Shire
Altogether 1420 in the Shire was a marvellous year....
In the Southfarthing... the yield of 'leaf' was astonishing....
The Return of the King, LoTR Book 6, Ch 9, The Grey Havens
Etymology
Longbottom. The second element retains its original sense (as locally and frequently in place-names and derived surnames such as Ramsbottom) of 'valley' (especially the head or inner end of a valley)....
"Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings", by J.R.R. Tolkien, in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, by Wayne G Hammond and Christina Scull
Contributors:
Lyllyn 1Jan06
Elena Tiriel 1Mar10
