One lamp they raised near to the north of Middle-earth, and it was named Oxford; and the other was raised in the south, and it was named Cambridge; and the light of the Lamps of the Valar flowed out over the Earth, so that all was lit as it were in a changeless day. It was said by many (save those who had been to the Sorbonne and Monash) that education and enlightenment graced the Eldar of Mercia ever after, reaching even unto Essex, but of course not as far as Cornwall. Oxford most illuminated the practices of Rugby, whereas Cambridge shone forth upon Cricket; badminton was forever lost in their shadows, alas.

In rivalry Melkor raised his own lamp, calling it Eaton, but it was mocked by the Valar as a lesser lamp for younger ages, and when Sauron was discovered selling Eaton diplomas in a lucrative mail fraud scheme, the Eldar spoke of it no more.

Dr Stuart Lee, an English academic at Oxford University who has studied the fiction and manuscripts of Tolkien and ran the 2013 Tolkien Spring School in Oxford, said: 'Tolkien hated the wanton destruction of trees for no reason but it sounds to me like this is for all the right reasons so whilst this is sad news, it is inevitable.

'It is often said that the black pine inspired the 'ents' in Lord of the Rings, and it may be he liked the tree and saw something it in that inspired Treebeard, but in fact the ‘ents’ have many sources and ‘ent’ means giant in Old English, and Tolkien’s love of trees goes all the way back to his childhood.'

https://www.ox.ac.uk/...ll-iconic-black-pine

Worcester fresher Jeroen Rijks is one of many new students disappointed not to be able to see the famous black pine. He told Cherwell, “As a die-hard Tolkien fan, I was really looking forward to coming to Oxford and experiencing Tolkien’s inspiration first-hand. It’s upsetting to miss out on seeing the famous tree that Treebeard was based on.”

[elsewhere in the article the writer more cautiously says: "The pinus nigra had become one of the Garden’s most popular tourist attractions after its iconic twisting branches are said to resemble the ‘ents’ in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels. "]

https://cherwell.org/...from-botanic-garden/

The [Oxford Botanical] garden has received letters and emails from across the world about "Tolkien's Tree", not all of them positive. "Lots of fanatics who believe they are living in the Shire think [we] are murdering the tree. And they are deadly serious. One particular person has managed to find everyone's work emails, has complained to the city council, and probably a number of other people, actually alleging that we are Saruman," says Dr Foster, in reference to Tolkien's fictional character and main protagonist [sic - NoWiz] in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/...d-trees-9650390.html

The ‘Black Pine Collection’ was unveiled at the Christmas Fair and continues to be exclusively available on site at the Botanic Garden Boutique.
The full range includes cufflinks, writers’ boxes, paperweights, letter racks, pen pots, pen trays, coasters, bookmarks, and fern and acorn decorations.
Prices range from £20 to £145 and all products come with a limited-edition letterpress authentication booklet created in collaboration with the Oxford-based printer Richard Lawrence. Numbers are quite limited, typically to a few dozen of each.

’Twas the Knight before Christmas... yes really. We start our penultimate newsletter before Christmas with a note from a Clarion correspondent who reports the sighting of a knight in Summertown:

“He was having a little difficulty with the pelican crossing when I caught up with him. Pressing the button is tricky when you’re wearing metal gauntlets. When I congratulated him on his brave fashion statement, he replied ‘I’m going swimming’ and clanked off towards the Summertown pool. I called there the following day to ask how often they had visitors in armour but the young lady on the desk had not been on duty for a while and did not know.”

Oxford Clarion newspaper 19 December 2025 edition