{"id":3138,"date":"2013-05-08T13:01:51","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/?p=3138"},"modified":"2015-01-22T17:31:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T17:31:29","slug":"the-one-ring-found-not-in-mordor-but-hampshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/2013\/05\/the-one-ring-found-not-in-mordor-but-hampshire\/","title":{"rendered":"The One Ring, Found Not In Mordor, But Hampshire \u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s a modest little artefact, but it inspired one of the best-loved bestsellers in literary history, in turn initiating a trio of Hollywood\u2019s biggest blockbusters. This tiny treasure belongs to the Vyne, a picturesque Tudor country house near Basingstoke in England, and they\u2019ve just opened a dedicated gallery to house it. The piece in question is an ancient ring, which some experts believe inspired the author J.R.R. Tolkien to write his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. While most remember Tolkien as a master fantasist, his main calling was as an eminent scholar, Professor of Anglo-Saxon History at Oxford University. Tolkien\u2019s deep knowledge of authentic Dark Age legend and lore informed the imaginary world of Middle Earth which he created in his novels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Yet some have suggested the inspiration for all of his fiction, from his 1937 book The Hobbit onwards, can be traced to one fascinating archaeological find. The find we\u2019re talking about is, of course, the ring \u2013 initially found in a field in Silchester in 1785 \u2013 forged from gold, decorated with mysterious inscriptions. And cursed\u2026 It lay forgotten at the Vyne for over a century, until the ring piqued the curiosity of an archaeologist named Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1929. Sir Mortimer called upon the expertise of his colleague, Professor Tolkien, and together they established that it dated from the Roman era and was linked to another artefact, a tablet bearing a curse, apparently aimed at the person who stole the ring.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tolkien began his first Middle Earth book \u2013 where, of course, a stolen, cursed gold ring with curious inscriptions, plays a key role \u2013 shortly after becoming fascinated by the Silchester find. Coincidence? The National Trust, current owners of the Vyne, don\u2019t think so, and have recently opened their exhibition centred on the ring and its Tolkien connection, calling it Curse, Legend and Inspiration. Visitors to the Vyne\u2019s Ring Room can also examine other Tolkien memorabilia, while there\u2019s a Middle Earth style adventure playground for the little ones, and even Tolkien themed snacks for hungry adventurers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We\u2019re not claiming to be able to lay our hands on the One Ring here at Alchemy (and even if we could, we wouldn\u2019t advertise the fact \u2013 we can do without the aggravation from the Ringwraiths). But we do have an impressive selection of evocative finger-adornments, all guaranteed curse-free. Might we, for example, draw your attention to our Runeband \u2013 a ring inscribed with Nordic script \u2013 Tolkien, as an expert on Dark Age languages, would surely have approved. Or perhaps our Great Wish Ring: Like the Vyne Ring, it\u2019s inscribed with a cryptic message, but also bearing the Alchemist\u2019s skeletal features \u2013 making it not just a cool piece of jewellery, but also a sure-fire Nazgul repellent\u2026 Browse our online dealers at www.alchemyengland.com\/buy<\/a> to purchase one for yourself.<\/p>\n

The Alchemy Editorial Team
\nwww.AlchemyEngland.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a modest little artefact, but it inspired one of the best-loved bestsellers in literary history, in turn initiating a trio of Hollywood\u2019s biggest blockbusters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[386,387,385,388],"class_list":["post-3138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gollum","tag-j-r-r-tolkien","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-runeband-ring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3138"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5060,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3138\/revisions\/5060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}