Tolkien in Lyme Regis

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973) spent most of his career as a Professor of English at Oxford University, but he is best remembered for The Hobbit (1937) and the three-volume Lord of the Rings (1954-5), which became the most popular fictional works of the twentieth century -- with combined sales of more than a quarter of a billion copies!

Tolkien (pictured left in 1911, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) visited Lyme Regis regularly between 1905 and 1910 for summer holidays with his younger brother Hilary and their guardian Francis Morgan. They stayed at the Three Cups Hotel in Broad Street -- the same hotel patronized by fellow author G.K. Chesterton. Later on, Tolkien returned to the town with his wife and children on many occasions. It is believed that he absorbed the scenery and atmosphere of Lyme and its surroundings into several of his fictional scenes... just as Beatrix Potter had done when she visited the town!

To find out more about the many writers and artists associated with Lyme Regis, see the Writers and Artists page of the main website... or better still, visit the museum!