How would you like to settle down in Mordor and be the owner of Tolkien's dark tower?
The remains of a black tower in East Yorkshire — and a nearby brilliant white lighthouse — are thought by some to have inspire The Two Towers, the second book in the English author’s beloved Lord of the Rings series.
And on December 3, the black tower and its accompanying former mill house are going up for auction with a guide price of £200,000 to £250,000.
The sale will include the remains of the tower, which was partly deconstructed during the First World War, likely due to Zeppelin attacks, and a four-bedroom home in need of a full renovation.
J. R. R. Tolkien's link to the area, which was recently celebrated with a statue in the nearby village of Roos, also came during the First World War, while he was based at a nearby army camp in the area.
The author wrote in a letter to his son that watching his wife singing and dancing in the woods there inspired his tale of ‘Luthien Tinuviel and Beren’.
It is this local link that has led some of Tolkien's devoted fandom to believe the Black Mill might have inspired his idea of two contrasting towers representing all that is good and evil.
The Black Mill originally stood at 60 feet tall, in stark contrast to its very flat agricultural surroundings. Only the nearby white Withernsea Lighthouse shared its striking position on the horizon.
Some have even said the two towers bear a resemblance to Tolkien's original illustration of the towers for his book.
The mill house, originally built in the 1600s, and what was originally a separate cottage have since been merged to form one home.
The previous owner lived in it for 40 years and it is now in need of a lot of work, which Chris Ray, Auction Valuer for Auction House Hull & East Yorkshire, estimates could cost £150,000 to £200,000.
As it stands, the house consists of a living room, kitchen, dining room, utility room, bathroom and separate “snug” on the ground floor, and four bedrooms with two bathrooms on the first floor.
The remainder of the tower sits not far from the house and makes for a curious and highly dramatic piece of garden furniture.
Sitting very close to the coastline and not far from the seaside town of Hornsea, the property is in an area very popular with West Yorkshire residents for coastal holidays, Ray says.
A Tolkien superfan could well win out on the day of the auction, he says. “I wouldn't be surprised at all if whoever buys it is very, very interested [in Tolkien].”
But there are other reasons it could be snapped up, too. “It's a lot of a lot of property for that kind of money.
“Yes, it needs quite a bit of work, but it's a prominent position, decent sized plot, and it's a big old house with some other outbuildings that could be converted for other bits and pieces.”
