Tolkien's Tree (Botanic Garden)
The site, in the Oxford Botanic Garden, of the Pinus nigra under which J.R.R. Tolkien 'often spent his time reposing'.
The original tree was removed in 2014 after limbs fell. The spot is still a quiet pilgrimage point for Tolkien readers — ask at the entrance for directions to the former Pinus nigra; staff are used to the question. For the formally-dedicated Tolkien memorial, see the Tolkien bench in University Parks.
In the Oxford Botanic Garden — England's oldest scientific garden, founded in 1621 — there stood for many decades a Pinus nigra (the Austrian or black pine) that, in Wikipedia's wording, J.R.R. Tolkien "often spent his time at the garden reposing under" as his favourite tree. Tolkien was photographed beneath it in his last summer in 1973, an image that has since become one of the best-known portraits of him in Oxford.
The tree itself was removed in 2014 after two limbs fell, posing a safety risk to visitors. The spot is still part of the unofficial Tolkien circuit through Oxford — visitors and guidebooks sometimes refer to a "Tolkien bench" near where the pine stood, though that framing is visitor tradition rather than formal commemoration. (For the formally-dedicated Tolkien memorial, see the bench in University Parks, donated by the Tolkien Centenary Conference in 1992.)
The Botanic Garden also contains the bench at its rear that closes Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (Lyra's bench) — between the two, a single garden ticket covers two of the most-visited literary spots in the city.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
