Battle Pit

The Shire fell under the thrall of cruel rulers during the War of the Ring: first the self-styled 'Chief' Lotho Sackville-Baggins, followed by Lotho's sponsor, known as Sharkey. The Hobbits were forced to resort to armed conflict in order to drive these ruffians from their land, and at the Battle of Bywater they trapped and defeated a force of Sharkey's Men.

Led by Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, the Hobbits trapped a crowd of Sharkey's Men on the Bywater Road, using wagons to block the road in either direction. In the Battle that followed there were losses on both sides, but the ruffians were decisively beaten, leaving nearly seventy of their number dead. The bodies of these slain Men were carried off to a nearby sand-pit and buried there, giving that place the name of the Battle Pit.

The Battle Pit was reserved for Sharkey's Men, while the nineteen Hobbits who had also fallen in the fight were placed in a separate marked grave on a hillside, where a garden would later grow. Meanwhile the Hobbits travelled to Bag End to confront Sharkey. There 'Sharkey' was revealed to be the Wizard Saruman, and the encounter brought about his end at the hands of his cringing servant Gríma Wormtongue.