[Rumil]

Erm,.. were't the barrow downs and the old forest on the Eastern side of the Shire?

I seem to remember Tolkien writing that Hobbiton was around the same latitude as Oxford, which makes central England (or Mercia if you like) the Shire (Assuming longitude is the same!). In that case, the Barrow Downs could either just about be the South Downs (South of London)(If so does Tom Bombadil live in London still?) or may have disappeared into the English channel in some cataclysm. Perhaps the Midgewater marshes are the east Anglian fens! Wales and Ireland would be Elven country, naturally. Wales being the Tower Hills and Blue Mountains, Ireland being part of Lindon (also cut off by some cataclysm). Scotland would be the Northern downs and perhaps Northern Wastes [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] .

Another idea of Tolkien's was that Britain was Tol Eressea, towed back from the undying lands. Warwick Castle was Kor-Tirion and Ireland was a bit of Tol Eressea that fell off as it arrived!