THE local area has long been rumoured to be a rich source of inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien when writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Yet just how much the great writer took from our place names and landscape has long been open to debate, until now.

A letter written by Tolkien in 1966, that is due to be auctioned next month at Christie’s, has confirmed that Crickhowell was a big influence when it came to writing his masterpiece- The Lord of the Rings.

Rumour has it that when a young JRR Tolkien visited Buckland Hall in nearby Bwlch, it was the distant view of the Sugar Loaf’s conical summit that inspired a key part of The Hobbit.

Erebor, the Lonely Mountain where the dragon Smaug guards his hoard, is said to be based largely on the Sugar Loaf.

The village of Bwlch is said to be the inspiration for the Hobbit name Bucklebury, the Brandywine Bridge is thought to he loosely based upon Llangynidr Bridge, and nearby Crickhowell is said to be the inspiration for the Hobbit village of Crickhollow, located in The Shire.

All of this has been open to speculation for years. It was known that Tolkien stayed in Talybont-on-Usk in the 1940s and was aware of how industrialisation was changing the timeless appeal of the area, but how much of reality seeped into fiction has always been questionable.

And now, a letter has come to light that confirms in Tolkien’s own hand the key part Crickhowell played when it came to creating Middle-earth.

The letter reads, “Dear Jenny. Thank you very much for your nice letter. I have been in most parts of Wales, but the place names I used are made up from English models or borrowed from books, though Crickhollow was actually meant to resemble Crickhowell.”

Now all we need to confirm is the Abergavenny connection, and everyone’s a winner!