Places in Middle-earth
Old Ford, The
Type: Fords, Bridges, Crossings
Region: Rhovanion/Misty Mtns
Location: The crossing of the Old Forest Road over the Anduin River, south of the Carrock.
Description: The Old Ford is the place where the Old Forest Road, which runs east from the High Pass of Rivendell in the Misty Mountains and through Mirkwood south of the Mountains of Mirkwood, crosses the Anduin.
"Wilderland", The Atlas of Middle-Earth, Revised Edition, by Karen Wynn Fonstad, Section 4, Regional Maps
Had they [Thorin Oakenshield's company] followed the pass, their path would have led them down the stream from the mountains that joined the great river miles south of the Carrock. At that point there was a deep ford [the Old Ford]... and beyond that a track led to the skirts of the wood and to the entrance of the old forest road.
The Hobbit, Ch 7, Queer Lodgings
Men-i-Naugrim, the Dwarf Road, is the Old Forest Road described in The Hobbit, Chapter 7 [see above]. In the earlier draft of this section ... there is a note referring to "the ancient Forest Road that led down from the Pass of Imladris and crossed Anduin by a bridge (that had been enlarged and strengthened for the passage of the armies of the Alliance), and so over the eastern valley into the Greenwood..." In The Hobbit the Forest Road traversed the great river by the Old Ford, and there is no mention of there having once been a bridge at the crossing.
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 1, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields: Notes, Note 14
Glóin had much to tell of events in the northern regions of Wilderland. Frodo learned that Grimbeorn the Old, son of Beorn, was now the lord of many sturdy men, and to their land between the Mountains and Mirkwood neither orc nor wolf dared to go.
"Indeed," said Glóin, "if it were not for the Beornings, the passage from Dale to Rivendell would long ago have become impossible. They are valiant men and keep open the High Pass and the Ford of Carrock [read: the Old Ford; see Note, below]. But their tolls are high," he added with a shake of his head....
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 1, Many Meetings
Note: the following index entry refers to the quote above:
Ford of Carrock: Ford over Anduin between the Carrock and the east bank of the river; but probably here referring to the Old Ford, where the Old Forest Road crossed Anduin, south of the Ford of Carrock.
Unfinished Tales, Index
Contributors: Elena Tiriel 24Jun04
