Westminster Abbey Plans Tolkien Memorial for 2027
A carved tree made from British woods will be the centerpiece of a new J.R.R. Tolkien memorial planned for Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner, the Abbey announced. The work is expected to be dedicated in spring 2027, near the memorial to Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis.
The design draws on Tolkien’s Tree of Amalion, which the Tolkien Estate describes as a picture of the stories and poems he had yet to create. The Abbey says the 2.5-meter artwork will be set into a pillar in the south transept and include a piece of a black pine once growing at Oxford Botanic Garden.
That pine had been planted in the 1830s and was a favorite of Tolkien’s during his Oxford years, according to the Botanic Garden. It was felled in 2014 after losing large branches.
The Abbey timed the dedication for a year marking two book anniversaries: 90 years since The Hobbit was published and 50 years since The Silmarillion appeared posthumously. Artist Stephen Broadbent developed the design in consultation with Tolkien scholars and the Tolkien Estate, the Abbey said.
Tolkien and Lewis met while teaching at Oxford and became close friends. In a 1964 letter, Tolkien called Lewis his closest friend for a period and said he remained “very dear” to him. Lewis’s memorial stone was unveiled at the Abbey in 2013; he is buried at Holy Trinity Church in Oxford.
Tolkien’s influence also reaches a new generation of Christian writers. In a recent Metro Voice report on the C.S. Lewis Fellowship, program leader Brett Harris said the stories of Lewis and Tolkien continue to “inspire, challenge, and influence readers for generations,” and that young writers today have similar potential.
–Alan Goforth
