Sarehole (grid referenceSP099818) is an area inHall Green,Birmingham, England. Historically inWorcestershire,[1] it was a small hamlet in the larger parish, and manor, ofYardley,[2] which was transferred toBirmingham in 1911. Birmingham was classed as part ofWarwickshire until 1974, and since then has been part of theWest Midlands.
W. H. Duignan'sWorcestershire Place Names conjectures that the name derives fromOld EnglishSyrfe, "Service tree", andhyll, "Hill".[3]
Sarehole gave its name to a farm (now built over) and a mill. It extended from the ford at Green Lane (now Green Road), southwards for about a mile, along theRiver Cole to the Dingles.Birmingham City Council has named the segment of the path along the Cole southwards from Sarehole Mill theJohn Morris Jones Walkway after a local historian.
J. R. R. Tolkien lived here as a child in the 1890s. The area influenced his description of the green and peaceful country of theShire in hisbooks. The nearbyMoseley Bog (now anature reserve) may have been the inspiration for theOld Forest.[4] Tolkien stated:
It was a kind of lost paradise. There was an old mill that really did grind corn with two millers, a great big pond with swans on it, a sandpit, a wonderful dell with flowers, a few old-fashioned village houses and, further away, a stream with another mill. I always knew it would go - and it did.[4]
According to local legend, the hill on whichSpring Hill College stands is criss-crossed with secret tunnels and could easily have become Tolkien'sBag End.Sarehole Mill, which also influenced the young Tolkien, is awater-drivenmill, now amuseum, within theShire Country Park. During the 18th century the mill was leased byMatthew Boulton, one of the pioneers of theIndustrial Revolution and leading figure of theLunar Society, for scientific experimentation.[5]
52°26′03″N1°51′21″W / 52.43409°N 1.85581°W /52.43409; -1.85581
