Fellowship of the Ring: Band of actors including The Hobbit stars Sir Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman launch quest to buy J.R.R. Tolkien's £4.5m former Oxfordshire home and create literary centre in his memory
Sir Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman and John Rhys-Davies are among The Lord of the Rings stars who have joined forces in a bid to buy author J.R.R. Tolkien's former £4.5million home in Oxfordshire.
The actors and other celebrities including Annie Lennox have joined award-winning writer Julia Golding in launching a crowdfunding campaign to purchase the property where the author penned his breakthrough novel The Hobbit and later The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
They have a secured a three-month window of opportunity to snap up the Grade-II listed home before the current owner puts it on the open market. They hope to transform it into a literary centre dedicated to Tolkien's works that will 'allow a diverse range of fantasy writers and artists to come together to write, learn and create'.
Sharing his support for the campaign, Sir Ian, who starred as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, said: 'We cannot achieve this without the support of the worldwide community of Tolkien fans, our fellowship of funders.'
A host of stars have launched a fundraising campaign in an effort to purchase the former home of J.R.R Tolkien on 20 Northmoor Road in Oxfordshire
A step inside the lavish property, which was built in 1924 and sits just an hour's drive away from London, reveals a living room that provides views of the garden outside
Actors Sir Ian McKellen , who starred as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Martin Freeman who played a young Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit urged supporters to donate
Ms Golding, who is best known for her Cat Royal series and The Companions Quartet, said: 'It's been a very difficult project. I live really close to this house and I was cycling past and saw the board being out discreetly and thought someone should do something about it.
'I tried to get initial funding going through the council and finding someone with £5m in their pockets but couldn't so I gave up. Then lockdown came and I started to think about it again. I was contacted by the estate agency informing me the house has now been dropped to £4million.
'The reason it costs so much is it's on one of the most expensive streets in Oxford, where all the people from abroad live. It's a 1924 house so I think it would be difficult to do much with us. You have to keep the Tolkien themes so it doesn't attract the person who wants to turn it into a mini palace.
'I think it was the courage of ignorance that got it started. I'm supposed to be writing a book. I set up the charity in two days and the charity commission was so helpful as they understood the goal of it. It was to buy a house essentially.'
She continued: 'Getting the celebrities was so much easier than the admin. I met Derek Jacobi in January this year and he introduced me to Ian McKellen and it just went on from there. I contacted the publicists of some and John Rhys-Davies and Martin Freeman have been great.
'Martin Freeman came last minute as were about to upload the video just like Bilbo Baggins at the start of the film.
'It's not going to be open all the time as it's a street people live in, so the idea is it will be a retreat for people to visit for film workshops, writing or to find about Tolkien.
'So far it is the hobbits carrying it out and doing the work. We want some Aargorns- people with big pockets to help out. We've raised more than £100,000 so far but we need more.'
Actor John Rhys-Davies, who played both Gimli and Treebeard in Peter Jackson's The Lord of The Rings added: 'Unbelievably, considering his importance, there is no centre devoted to Tolkien anywhere in the world.
'The vision is to make Tolkien's house into a literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers for many years to come.'
The period house, which sits just an hour's drive from London and was built in 1924, features seven large bedrooms upstairs, including one bedroom on the ground floor, and a spacious garden.
Covering two floors and providing almost 4,000 square feet of accommodation, the Tolkien family moved to the property in 1930 and stayed there for 17 years.
The author's breakthrough novel, The Hobbit, was published seven years after he moved into the sprawling estate.
Tolkien, who was born in South Africa in 1892 and moved to England when he was four, grew up in Sarehole, in Birmingham, and went on to became a Professor at Oxford University where he studied Old and Middle English.
While working at the university, he invented languages of his own but when the First World War broke out, he enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the Battle of the Somme.
He was eventually released from duty due to illness and returned to Oxford with his family where he began to work on his writing.
His books contained stories from a fantasy land partially inspired by ancient European myths and the world had its own sets of maps, lore and its own unique language.
He called it Middle-earth and the world was occupied by men, elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, goblins and hobbits.
During his time at the residence, the author also joined the university's informal literary discussion group The Inklings with author C.S Lewis, who went on the pen The Chronicles of Narnia.
Inspired by their love of fantasy writing, the group would usually meet on Thursday evenings at The Eagle and Child pub on St Giles' Street to hold discussions of the members' unfinished works.
While the formal meetings eventually came to an end in 1949, gatherings at the 17th century pub continued among the members and it was at one of the meetings that C.S. Lewis handed the proofs for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was published in 1950.
Actor John Rhys-Davies said the vision to make Tolkien's house into a literary hub that will inspire new generations of writers, artists and filmmakers' while singer Annie Lenox also shared her support for the fundraising venture
The period home, which features six large bedrooms upstairs, including one bedroom on the ground floor, also comes with a spacious kitchen fitted with tiled flooring
Sitting just an hour's drive from London , the property covers two floors and provides almost 4,000 square feet of accommodation
The house, which was later given Grade II-listed status on the basis of Professor Tolkien's importance, is situated on Northmoor Road in Oxfordshire
A step inside the property which is now up for sale reveals a room fitted with a bookshelf and which overlooks the sprawling garden outside and a bedroom with wooden flooring
Sir Derek Jacobi joined forces with the celebrities to help purchase the former home of famed author. The initiative was launched by the award-winning author Julia Golding on December 2 after she secured a three-month fundraising window to purchase the property from its current owners
His books contained stories from a fantasy land partially inspired by ancient European myths and the world had its own sets of maps, lore and its own unique language.
He called it Middle-earth and the world was occupied by men, elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, goblins and hobbits.
During his time at the residence, the author also joined the university's informal literary discussion group The Inklings with author C.S Lewis, who went on the pen The Chronicles of Narnia.
Inspired by their love of fantasy writing, the group would usually meet on Thursday evenings at The Eagle and Child pub on St Giles' Street to hold discussions of the members' unfinished works.
While the formal meetings eventually came to an end in 1949, gatherings at the 17th century pub continued among the members and it was at one of the meetings that C.S. Lewis handed the proofs for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was published in 1950.
During his time in Oxford, Tolkien joined the university's informal literary discussion group The Inklings with author C.S Lewis. The group would usually meet on Thursday evenings at The Eagle and Child pub on St Giles' Street to hold discussions of their works
The house was later bought by a private buyer in 2004 And is now adorned with a blue plaque which reads: 'J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of Lord Of The Rings, Lived here 1930-1947'
Pictured: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, starring Luke Evans and Orlando Bloom was released in 2014
JRR Tolkien: The Oxford Professor whose harrowing memories of the Somme inspired epic Lord of the Rings battles
Tokien went on to write The Hobbit novel and The Lord of the Rings series
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is best known for his fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.
While working at the university, Tolkien invented languages of his own but when the First World War broke out, he enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers and fought in the Battle of the Somme.
He was eventually released from duty due to illness.
The author, who became a Professor at Oxford University where he studied Old and Middle English, penned a line about a 'hobbit' while grading a paper.
The line went on to become one of his most famous works, The Hobbit novel, and he later wrote The Lord of the Rings series.
The books contained stories from a fantasy land partially inspired by ancient European myths. The world had its own sets of maps, lore and its own unique language.
He called it Middle-earth and the world was peopled by men, elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, goblins and hobbits.
The Hobbit was published in 1937, before his famous trilogy.
Part one of the series, The Fellowship of the Ring was published in 1954, while The Two Towers and The Return of the King followed in 1955.
During his time at 20 Northmoor Road, the author also joined the university's informal literary discussion group The Inklings with author C.S Lewis, who went on the pen The Chronicles of Narnia.
Inspired by their love of fantasy writing, the group would usually meet on Thursday evenings at The Eagle and Child pub on St Giles' Street to hold discussions of the members' unfinished works.
In 1947, with their children now grown, Tolkien and his wife Edith left 20 Northmoor Road for the Oxford suburb of Headington before heading to Bournemouth in 1959 after the author's retirement
Tolkien, who was born in South Africa 1892 and moved to England when he was four, grew up in Sarehole, in Birmingham.
He had four children, three sons and a daughter, who all carried on his legacy after his death on September 2, 1973, at the age of 81.
In 1947, with their children now grown, Tolkien and his wife Edith left 20 Northmoor Road for the Oxford suburb of Headington before heading to Bournemouth in 1959 after the author's retirement
The house was later bought by a private buyer in 2004 for more than £1.5million and is now adorned with a blue plaque which reads: 'J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of Lord Of The Rings, Lived here 1930-1947.'
It was given Grade II-listed status on the basis of Professor Tolkien's importance despite having no particular architectural qualities.
Last year, Oxfordshire estate agents Breckon and Breckon said it was 'situated on a generous plot within a leafy central north Oxford suburb' and described the property as 'substantial'.
On Wednesday, Sir Ian and a host of celebrities shared their support for the initiative by releasing a fundraising video to mark the launch of the project.
In their appeal they said: 'In 1930 a family moved to 20 Northmore road, a big house in the university city of Oxford, England.
'The young father entertained his children with his stories about a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins and Bilbo went on a quest to the lonely mountain in the company of a wizard.
'The young man was J.R.R. Tolkien and in the 30s he wrote The Hobbit and by 1939 England was once again at war.
'The shadow of that war and the earlier one in which Tolkien had himself fought would stretch across the pages of The Lord of the Rings from the shire to the marshes but ultimately good would triumph and peace return both to Middle-earth and the world of 1945.'
They added: 'Tolkien's world has been the inspiration for many artists, writers and filmmakers but so far there has been no specific place dedicated to the appreciation of Tolkien's life until now.
'For the first time in many years the Tolkien house is up for sale. We many never have an opportunity like this in our lifetimes to convert the home and grounds into that little haven of beauty and creativity that Tolkien would have recognised and that included restoring the garden that he loved so much.'
Sir Ian later took to Twitter to write: 'Unlike other writers of his stature, there is no centre devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien anywhere in the world.
'The hobbit hole at the end of the garden maybe? Spaces for quiet and reflection like Rivendell. This is our vision at project Northmoor, a charity set up to purchase the house and then go on to set up the centre.'
While Ms Golding added: 'It is with great joy I announce along with and many others the campaign to #SaveTolkiensHome! Watch the video and please donate to create the first world centre for Tolkien in his old home. #SaveTolkiensHome.'
Alongside setting up a permanent residence for his literary work, the project aims to include an online presence inside the house in order for writers and artists to take programme without having to leave their homes.
Last month it was revealed that a previously unpublished anthology of work by the iconic author would be released next summer.
The collection of essays on topics ranging from Elvish reincarnation to which characters had beards will be called The Nature of Middleearth.
The British author, who wrote the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, continued to explore his fantasy setting of Middle-earth until his death in 1973.
His estate has authorised the new book, which is to be published by HarperCollins in June, The Times reports.
HarperCollins' deputy publishing director Chris Smith added: 'It offers readers a chance to peer over Professor Tolkien's shoulder at the very moment of discovery: and on every page, Middle-earth is once again brought to extraordinary life'.
The writings will be edited by Nasa computer engineer and Tolkien expert Carl F Hostetter.
He previously worked with Tolkien's son Christopher on editing his father's writings, until Christopher's death earlier this year.
To donate or for more information: www.projectnorthmoor.org