Staddle

Description

There are two ways to see smoke come out of a Hobbit’s ears. Firstly, you could go and visit Adelard Took, the champion pipe-smoker of Tookborough and the only Hobbit ever to blow finer smoke-rings than a Wizard. The second, and easier, method is to call Staddle “East Bree” in front of any Hobbits of the Tunnelly family. The insinuation that Staddle is a mere extension – or worse, suburb – of the larger town on the other side of the hill is absolute anathema to the proud Hobbits.
The village of Staddle is, with all honesty, very similar to Bree. There are some twenty stone houses of the Big Folk arranged along the crossing of two paths. One path runs south to the Road, and north to the pastures; the other path runs west along the slopes of the hill to Bree, passing the Windmill of Staddle. More than half the village is underground; Hobbit-holes dot the banks and hillside, and a path of crushed gravel leads up to the grand door of the Smial of Staddle.
Staddle has an inn, the Lamplighter, which is a modest but welcoming establishment. It sees more custom from local Hobbits than Big Folk or foreigners.

The Smial of Staddle

More properly, the Great Smial of Staddle, although you could just say the Smial and everyone in Bree-land would know where you mean. The Smial of Staddle is the vast and labyrinthine underground mansion of the Tunnellies, the richest Hobbits in the region.
The Tunnellies consider themselves the equal of any of the great families of the Shire, of the Tooks or Brandybucks or any other one would care to name. If anything, the Tunnellies say, their name is more prestigious, for the first holes of the Smial of Staddle were dug before any Hobbit entered the Shire.
The Tunnellies are not the only family to live in the Smial; after the Fell Winter, parts of the Smial fell into disuse, so other Hobbit families moved in, although they have to put up with the infamous tempers of their hosts. The last war fought in Bree, the War of 2930 (also known as the War of Thursday Afternoon), after all, was started by the Tunnellies. They have always objected to the authority of the Reeve of Bree, except when (as often happens), the Reeve is a Tunnelly. On that fateful Thursday in 2930, the Reeve was not a Tunnelly, and when he made a ruling against the Tunnellies, they marched back to the Smial in high dudgeon. 
The chieftain of the Tunnellies declared that Staddle would no longer be subject to the Reeve’s jurisdiction, and would henceforth stand alone. Some dozen Hobbits were sent out to seize the windmill and “secure the border”; some accounts insist that a pony-rider was dispatched cross-country to Buckland to rally support there. 
As it turned out, the first council of war held in the Smial was accompanied by an exceedingly fine supper, and the newly commissioned thanes of Staddle took a long nap afterwards. On waking, they felt somewhat more reasonable, and hostilities ceased, with the only significant casualty being the Tunnelly wine cellar. Every so often, a hot-blooded Hobbit of Staddle will threaten a “repeat of 2930” or to “send a pony to Buckland” over some imagined slight from Bree.

Location of Staddle on Bree-Hill

Type

Village