The word 'downs' refers to a countryside of rolling low hills, especially of chalk, and there were several regions of downland on both the western and the eastern borders of the Shire. In the Westfarthing were the White Downs, in which Michel Delving lay, and beyond them the Far Downs that marked the Shire's western border. Meanwhile, in the east and beyond the Old Forest lay the range known as the Barrow-downs, or Tyrn Gorthad in Elvish (tyrn being the Elvish word for 'downs').
The Shire-hobbits used the shorthand name of 'the Downs' for various different areas of downland. By far the most common1 use of this name is in reference to the Barrow-downs beyond the Old Forest, the haunt of dangerous spirits known as Barrow-wights. However, the name could have other meanings in other situations; so for example, the entire Shire was sometimes described with the expression 'from the Downs to the River',2 where 'the Downs' here referred to the western Far Downs (and 'the River' to the Brandywine on the eastern border).
Notes
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That is, common in the sense of being most used by Tolkien, and by this definition 'Downs' overwhelmingly refers to the Barrow-downs. This frequency is necessarily influenced by the fact that, compared to the other regions of downland bordering the Shire, the Barrow-downs played a disproportinately important part in the story of Frodo's journey out of the Shire. For a typical Hobbit of the Shire (that is, one not involved in a perilous quest) the Far Downs and the White Downs, which were populated by Hobbits, would have been rather more relevant and commonplace than the distant, little-known Barrow-downs.
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Unfinished Tales Part Three III, The Quest of Erebor.
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- Updated 20 April 2025
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