Bree-hill

Hill
Bree-hill
General Information
Location	Central Eriador
Type	Hill
People and History
Inhabitants	Men, Hobbits

Bree-hill was the most prominent point in the Bree-land, on the slopes of which stood the villages of Bree itself (to the southwest) and Staddle (to the southeast).

There were many families of hobbits in Bree; and they claimed to be the oldest settlement of Hobbits in the world, founded long before the Brandywine was crossed and the Shire colonized. Though more lived in Staddle there were many Hobbits in Bree, living on the higher slopes of the hill, above the houses of the Men.

On its southern slopes there were flourishing growths of pipe-weed, which was probably brought to the north along the Greenway and the Bree-hobbits claimed they were the first actual smokers of the leaf. Being an ancient cross-road, the "art" spread from there to other wanderers and races. Tobold Hornblower probably discovered the leaf there, introducing it to the Shire.

The southern slopes contained the fields called Southlinch, which produced a weed variety of that name.

Etymology

Bree-hill is a tautological place name, because it means "hill-hill".

The element Bree is a British (i.e. Celtic) word for "hill". Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull suggest that the name Bree is derived from the Welsh word bre, which means "hill". Tom Shippey also points out that Bree means "hill" in Welsh.

Inspiration

J.R.R. Tolkien mentioned to also look at Brill and that it was derived from bree + hill when he mentioned that Chetwood was a compound of Celtic and English elements that both mean "wood".

Tom Shippey mentions that J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired by the town of Brill, Buckinghamshire, which is located on a hill ten miles from Oxford, when he chose the names Bree and Bree-hill. Christopher Tolkien confirmed that the name Bree is based on Brill in Buckinghamshire, which his father knew well.