Bree

"The village of Bree had some hundred stone houses of the Big Folk, mostly above the Road, nestling on the hillside with windows looking west."

Demographics

A mix of Men ("Big Folk") and Hobbits ("Little Folk"). A few families of Dwarves also keep homes here.

Government

Bree is governed by a Reeve, and office dating back to the time of the Kings, when the Reeve held authority over all the farmlands about. Now the Reeve presides at festivals, leads the town council in managing the minimal laws of Bree, and acting as judge in any dispute that requires official arbitration, which includes what little crime occurs here.
The Reeve is elected for at term of seven years and seven days (for reasons no one recalls now), and each of the four villages - Archet, Bree, Combe, and Staddle - sends a representative chosen annually to serve on the town council. Each village selects a representative in its own way: Archet by archery competition, Combe sends the oldest citizen able to travel, Staddle by election (though it's nearly always a Tunnelly), and Bree by election (though tradition holds that if the Reeve is of the Big-folk, one of the Little-folk serves as councilor and vice versa.

Defences

Bree is surrounded by a deep ditch dug long ago and now someone filled in through erosion and its use as a rubbish heap and a thick and thorny hedge grows on the inner side of the ditch. Each of the gates of Bree is reached by a causeway across the ditch and a gated archway that pierces the tall hedge. Each gate is manned by a gate-keeper an closed at night.
Halfway along the hedge between the gates stands a watchtower, which is also manned by a night watchman after sunset. The tower was built two generations ago after the storms of the Fell Winter finally toppled the ancient tower that had stood atop the hill since the days of the kings.

History

Bree has stood at the crossroads for time immemorial. As a rule the houses on the upper slopes are older than those of the lower slopes. The few in town who know old lore say that the town was abandoned during the ancient wars of the Last Kings, and eventually resettled after wars destroyed the ancient kingdoms of the north.

Natural Resources

The slopes of Bree Hill above the eastern gate boast an ancient stone quarry. While not much used today, it could still be a source of good stone at need.

Maps

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  Bree

Population

Roughly one thousand, half of whom live permanently within the hedge and the rest on farmsteads in the lands nearby.

Inhabitant Demonym

Bree-Folk

Included Locations

• The Counting Houes
• The Prancing Pony
• The Reeve's Hall

Owner/Ruler

Twyc Sweetroot

Characters in Location

• The Warden