£376,000 joy for Hobbit land

A Birmingham beauty spot that was the inspiration for JRR Tolkien classics The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was today granted a £376,500 cash injection to preserve it for future generations.

Moseley Bog, well known as Tolkien's childhood playground, has been given the cash by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The project will see an open air performance space and classroom created as well as work to hedgerows meadows and trees.The author, who was born in Africa, moved to Kings Heath when he was three, before moving to Sarehole, in Hall Green, then Edgbaston.

He spent his childhood exploring Sarehole Mill, Moseley Bog and the Clent and Malvern Hills and acknowledged that the bog was the inspiration behind the mystical Old Forest in his novels.

The restoration project will see The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country transform Moseley Bog and Joy's Wood Local Nature Reserve into a green space of "exceptional heritage significance".

The bog is already home to a rich diversity of habitats, including the bog itself, dry woodlands and species including birds and small mammals.

In addition, the site also includes two Bronze Age burnt mounds with Scheduled Ancient Monument status, and a former mill pool dam, a pond and the former Sarehole Mill.

Despite this, the site was once earmarked for development as a landfill site and has been in decline for years.

Katie Foster, who chairs the Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands committee, said: "We are delighted to play a major part in safeguarding and improving an area beloved by so many people in the region – and connected with such a well known writer whose childhood heritage here influenced his writing now known worldwide."

A performance space and classroom are included.