Photography: Breckon and Breckon

Fans of J R R Tolkien’s fantasy literature have launched a crowd-funding campaign to buy the author’s former home and turn it into a museum and literary centre in Oxford.

Project Northmoor is being led by British author Julie Golding and seeks to convert the Grade II-listed home – built in 1924 – into a centre for the studies of Tolkien’s literature. JRR and Edith Tolkein lived at the six-bedroom home from 1930-1947 during which Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Photography: Breckon and Breckon

According to The New York Times, the current owners of the two-storey Oxford property bought it in 2004 for £1.6m – the same year it was granted Grade-II status. They listed it earlier this year for £4.7m with Breckon & Breckon before lowering the price and withdrawing it from sale in order to give the Project Northmoor group time to organise funds to buy the home.

Photography: Breckon and Breckon

Celebrities including Annie Lennox and Gandalf actor Sir Ian McKellan have appeared in a video backing the initiative, which aims to raise £4.8m to buy the house (priced at £4m). The remainder will be spent on starting up the foundation, converting the home for its new role and constructing a hobbit house in the garden. Find out more about the fundraising initiative, dubbed the ‘Fellowship of Funders’.

Photography: Unknown author, Wikipedia

 

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