Chetwood

From Tolkien Gateway
Chetwood
Forest
Matěj Čadil - Chetwood.jpg
"Chetwood" by Matěj Čadil
General Information
LocationCentral Eriador, just north and east of Bree
TypeForest

Chetwood was the broad woodland that lay to the north and east of the Bree-hill, some forty miles east of the Shire.[1] The village of Archet was built among the trees near its edge.[2]

Prior to the settlement of the Shire many Hobbits lived in Bree and in the Chetwood nearby.[1] When Strider led the four hobbits out of Bree they spent three days in the Chetwood before descending to the Midgewater Marshes.[3]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The element chet (also found in Archet) , meaning "wood", is said to be of Celtic origin.[4] It is seen in the Welsh word coed.[5]

It represents a possible Old Hobbitish Cetwudu "wood".

There is a Cheetwood in Lancashire and a Chetwode in Buckinghamshire, although it is unknown if Tolkien was inspired by these.[source?]

Portrayal in adaptations[edit | edit source]

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

The Chetwood consisted of three areas in the region of Bree-land. Chetwood South was located around the East Road south of Staddle, south-east of Bree and south-west of the Midgewater Marshes. Chetwood North was north of the marsh, between Combe and the Weather Hills. The Far Chetwood lay in the northeast of Bree-land beyond the Archet Dale, south of the lake of Nen Harn on the border with the North Downs. Early in the War of the Ring, bandits of the Blackwold gang lived in the woods.

References