Trees that gave Tolkien inspiration for Hobbit books included in Royal celebration of woodland

Brocton Coppice is part of a new book devoted to the Queen’s Canopy, a network of ancient woodland dedicated to the late monarch.

Charles, writing in the foreword for the new book entitled The Queen’s Green Canopy, pays tribute to his mother, saying her “life touched countless people over many generations and across the world”.

He tells of how the “enduring and reassuring presence” of trees make them a fitting way to honour the nation’s longest reigning monarch.

The 500-year-old sessile oaks of Brocton Coppice may have inspired Tolkien, who was was stationed at the Great War training camps on Cannock Chase at various times from November 1915 to 1918.

Many believe the character of the ancient trees at Brocton Coppice may have inspired the setting for his Lord of the Rings books. The area is a popular destination for walkers from across the region and also form part of a Tolkien Trail for enthusiasts of his books.

Trees are important in Tolkien’s works. He once said: “Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate. In all my works I take the part of trees against all their enemies.”

Other ancient woodland featured as part of the 70 within the Queen’s Canopy include Benthall Edge, in the heart of historic Ironbridge in Shropshire, as well as one of Britain’s largest areas of woodland, Wyre Forest, near Kidderminster. Many are also in areas of Wales popular with holidaymakers from the West Midlands and Shropshire.

The King has hailed the “extraordinary diversity and beauty” and “own enchanting character” of each of the ancient trees and woodlands dedicated to his late mother the Queen.

The book, which will be published in June, features photographs, through the changing seasons, of the nationwide network of 70 age-old trees and 70 historic woodlands, which were dedicated to the monarch to mark her Platinum Jubilee.

The trees and woodlands form part of The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative which also saw more than a million new trees planted in the Queen’s name to celebrate her reign and create a lasting legacy.

A public exhibition of the book’s images by nature photographers Adrian Houston and Charles Sainsbury-Plaice is also taking place at Sotheby’s in London, beginning today and running until December 20.

Also on show will be drawings of the ancient canopy by artist Mary Anne Aytoun-Ellis, whose detailed work has been brought together, folded concertina style into an intricate leporello book.

The King, patron of the QGC, writes: “These days there is, thankfully, a much greater awareness of the importance of trees and woodlands for the enormous benefits they bring us and our planet.

“Their enduring and reassuring presence has, I believe, made them a particularly appropriate way of commemorating the seventy-year reign of our late Queen, whose life touched countless people over many generations and across the world.”

He adds: “These trees and woodlands, many of an astonishing age, have their own enchanting character and history and are inseparable from our country’s culture.”

Charles outlined his hope that the new trees planted as part of the initiative would become the ancient woodlands of the future.

“In this book, the incredibly talented photographers, Adrian Houston and Charles Sainsbury-Plaice, have captured the extraordinary diversity and beauty of all the seventy ancient trees and seventy ancient woodlands,” he said.

In another foreword for the leporello, Charles described Aytoun-Ellis’s artwork as “unique” and “haunting”.

Among the ancients trees portrayed in the exhibition is Llangernyw Yew in Conwy, Wales – a living survivor from prehistoric times thought to be germinated in the Bronze Age, about 4,000 years ago.

The artwork in The Queen’s Green Canopy Ancient Woodlands and Trees exhibition at Sotheby’s in Bond Street, London, is for sale through The Tree Art Gallery, with a donation made in support of the QGC for each purchase.