Westmarch

The Westmarch is the newest part of the Shire and the westernmost, lying beyond the Far Downs on the road toward the Gulf of Lune. Before the Fourth Age this was empty land outside the Shire's border, crossed by hobbits only when they walked out to look at the elf-towers.

In FoA 31, King Elessar added it to the Shire as a gift to the hobbits, extending their territory to the Tower Hills. Elanor, the eldest daughter of Samwise Gamgee, married Fastred of Greenholm, and in FoA 41 the Thain made Fastred Warden of the Westmarch. The couple settled at Undertowers, and their descendants, the Fairbairns of the Towers, held the office after them.

The Westmarch is the reason readers have the story at all, at least in the fiction of the book. The Red Book, Bilbo's and Frodo's manuscript completed by Sam, passed to Elanor and was kept at Undertowers by the Fairbairns, and copies made from it are the stated source of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Events at this place

1. FoA 31 · Appendices

   The Westmarch granted

   King Elessar gave the land between the Far Downs and the Tower Hills to the Shire, enlarging it for the first time since TA 1601.

2. FoA 41 · Appendices

   The Fairbairns settle at Undertowers

   The Thain made Fastred of Greenholm Warden of the Westmarch. He and his wife Elanor Gamgee settled at Undertowers, and their descendants, the Fairbairns of the Towers, kept the office.

3. FoA 61 · Appendices

   The Red Book passes to Elanor

   Sam gave the Red Book to his daughter before riding west, and it was kept at Undertowers thereafter.

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