Above you see a little green hill rising above the surrounding plain. This is a man-made structure. The first time I came across anything like this was while reading Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is a dramatic passage in the Fellowship of the Ring when the hobbit heroes are passing through the “Barrow-downs”. Tolkien’s barrows were mounds like the one above; they had been the final resting place of the ancient men of the first age. In the novel the barrow-downs had been a peaceful place until cursed by the Witch-king of Angmar who sent evil spirits, the barrow-wights, to haunt the once great tombs. So that’s my literary reference for places such as this.
Bob Platt
Deb Platt
