Where did J.R.R. Tolkien die in 1973?

J.R.R. Tolkien died in Bournemouth, England, in 1973. He died on 2 September at the age of 81 after becoming ill with a bleeding gastric ulcer and an infection of the chest.

Tolkien had retired from academic life in 1959, but he continued revising his writings and corresponding with readers and scholars. He had lived in several parts of England during his career, including Oxford, where he taught and wrote many of his best-known works.

His wife, Edith, had died in 1971. Tolkien’s death followed hers by less than two years, and the couple were later buried together in Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford. Their shared grave is marked with the names Beren and Lúthien, characters whose love story echoes aspects of their relationship.

Bournemouth is sometimes confused with Oxford because Oxford was Tolkien’s main academic home and the place associated with his burial. However, contemporary biographies identify Bournemouth as the location of his death.