A lesser river flowing through the southern parts of the Shire's Eastfarthing. Its source was in the uplands of the Green Hill Country, from where it flowed south and then southeast. At Willowbottom, it met the Thistle Brook, and then flowed eastwards until the Shirebourn itself met the Brandywine.
The Shirebourn flowed into the Brandywine beneath Deephallow, and at its mouth formed the boggy region known as the Overbourn Marshes, opposite the southern end of the High Hay.
Notes
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The word scīr (modernised to 'shire') had two meanings in Old English. The first described a bounded region or a fiefdom, and it is from that meaning that the name of the Shire, the land of the Hobbits, took its name. The same word could also mean 'bright', 'clear' or 'gleaming' and it is from this second sense that the river Shirebourn acquired its name. The two meanings are distinct, though doubtless Tolkien was well aware that the modernised spelling 'Shirebourn' was well suited for a river within the Shire. The element -bourn comes from Old English burna, a stream or brook.
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- Updated 23 July 2016
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