Old Forest

Old Forest
J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium location
Type	A remnant of the primordial forests of Eriador
Ruler	Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow (nominal rulers: Kings of Arnor)
Notable locations	the Dingle, the Withywindle; the Bonfire Glade
Location	East of the Shire

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Old Forest was a daunting and ancient woodland just beyond the eastern borders of the Shire. Its first and main appearance in print was in The Fellowship of the Ring, especially in chapter VI, which is itself titled "The Old Forest".

Forests play an enormous role throughout the invented history of Tolkien's Middle-earth and are inevitably an important episode on the heroic quests of his characters. The forest device is used as a mysterious transition from one part of the story to another.

The Old Forest lay near the centre of Eriador, a large region of north-west Middle-earth. It was one of the few survivors of the primordial forests which had covered much of Eriador before the Second Age. Indeed, it had once been but the northern edge of one immense forest which reached all the way to Fangorn forest, hundreds of miles to the south-east.

The vicinity of the Old Forest was the domain of three nature-spirits: Tom Bombadil, Old Man Willow and Goldberry. The powers of these beings doubtless contributed to its survival when other forests were destroyed. The house of Tom Bombadil was located beside the eastern eaves of the forest, near where the Withywindle stream flowed over a waterfall into the woods. Old Man Willow stood in the centre of the forest, on the Withywindle's meandering banks.

The Old Forest was about 1,000 square miles in area (≈ 2,600 km²). It was bordered on the east by the Barrow-downs, in the north it reached towards the Great East Road, and in the west and south it approached the Brandywine river. The Withywindle, a tributary of the Brandywine, ran through the heart of the forest, which covered most of the Withywindle's drainage basin.

...
Wikipedia