The Art of Tolkien
Plan of Farmer Cotton’s House
(Pencil)
In LOTR, book 6, chapter 8, Sam rides to Cotton's farm to alert him to the hobbits' revolt against the ruffians occupying the Shire. In the published text Sam's visit is brief and to the point, but in drafts of the chapter the farm is the site of a short, fierce battle between hobbits and ruffians. A plan of Farmer Cotton's house and a sketch of the front exterior, together on one sheet, undoubtedly were drawn when Tolkien was writing of the battle of Cotton's farm and needed to visualize its layout and appearance. The published Lord of the Rings leaves it little described, no more than a 'large round door at the top of the steps from the wide yard'. In the first draft of the chapter the house has a second storey (They knocked on the door, twice. Then slowly a window was opened just above and a head peered out.") a kitchen at the back reached by a passage, and stairs by the front door. All of these features except the last are shown in the plan.
(JRR Tolkien Artist & Illustrator p178)
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