A large village of Buckland, about three miles to the north of Bucklebury and Brandy Hall, standing close to the Hedge that protected Buckland from the Old Forest. The village's name implies that it was more recent than other settlements of the Bucklanders, but nonetheless it was clearly of considerable age. The line of the Hedge followed an arc around the village, showing that it was already established when the High Hay was created, generations before the end of the Third Age.
Newbury was close to Crickhollow, and its southern outskirts were a mile or less from the place where Frodo Baggins bought a house to disguise his departure from the Shire. As Frodo and his companions set out from Crickhollow to find a way under the Hedge, they turned north for a short distance, and so came extremely close to Newbury. Indeed, the cutting and gate they used to pass out of Buckland was likely the work of the Hobbits that lived in that larger village, rather than tiny Crickhollow to the south.
Notes
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The 'new' in Newbury's name hints that it was one of the later settlements to spring up in Buckland, but we have no definite dating to corroborate this idea. |
2 |
Newbury's location close to the Hedge that guarded Buckland from the Old Forest, coupled with the -bury element of its name (meaning 'fortication' or castle') provide circumstantial clues that it was founded as part of the Bucklanders' defences against the strange trees of the Forest.
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