Great Barrows

The Barrow-downs east of the Shire were a ridged series of hills, on which the most ancient Men to come to that region had constructed earthworks and stone circles. There they had also entombed their dead in barrows (graves or tombs buried beneath mounds of earth). That ancient tradition carried on for thousands of years, and was even practised by the Dúnedain of Cardolan when they occupied this area in the first half of the Third Age.

Cardolan was lost in the wars against Angmar, and the Witch-king of that evil land sent dark spirits to inhabit the Great Barrows of the downs. By the end of the of the Third Age, nearly 1,400 years later, those beings still inhabited the barrows, so that the Barrow-downs remained a place of great danger to travellers. Indeed, one of these Barrow-wights captured Frodo and his companions during their departure from the Shire, and only the intervention of Tom Bombadil allowed the Ring-bearer to escape.