A small inn that lay near Hobbiton, on the road to Bywater. It was favoured by Sam's father Hamfast Gamgee and his neighbour Daddy Twofoot, as well as many other Hobbits of the Hobbiton area. The Ivy Bush was a centre of gossip and storytelling, and it was here that the Hobbiton residents gathered to exchange fantastical tales of Elves, Dragons and treasure-hunting, as well as (rather more usually) the latest doings in the Shire.
Notes
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Tolkien seems to have been influenced in his choice of the name Ivy Bush by a pub of that name that would have been local to him during the time he lived in Birmingham. Though now relatively rare as a name for a real inn, the use of a bush as to signify an inn was common in ancient times. A bush of ivy would at one time have marked out a tavern where wine could be served, but later came to be used more widely for inns or taverns of any kind.
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- Updated 12 January 2022
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