Strange as news from Bree... - Page 9
© Michael Martinez
The last century of the Third Age nonetheless must have been really difficult for Bree. Tharbad was deserted in 2912 after it was flooded. Any traffic which had passed up to Bree must then have dwindled or vanished completely. The Shire and Buckland were now becoming quite insular, and at the end of the century Saruman of Isengard took an interest in the Shire which appears to have drawn off a great deal of business from Bree.
About all that remained for the Bree-folk would be Dwarves, Rangers, and the occasional migrating or fleeing Elves. The local population probably declined steadily through the last decades, for there wouldn't have been sufficient trade to sustain a large town. But where would the people go? Did they all die off? Probably not. If Bree declined some of its people undoubtedly settled on farms outside the villages of the Breeland, still within the boundaries of the Bree-land and (unknowingly) protected by the Rangers. Or it may be that some of the Bree-folk travelled south to Minhiriath to try their luck in the wilderness.
Barliman Butterbur seems to have been surviving mostly on local business, regular customers who would eat and drink at the Prancing Pony but not really use its room services. The inn probably served as the village meeting hall and headquarters in times of trouble. Barliman also operated the only livery stable in the village of Bree. So there seem to have been few if any merchants left at the end of the Third Age. The townsfolk might still have worked whataver quarry they controlled, and probably were moderately active in carpentry and farm-work. As Barliman had hired help, it seems plausible the larger farms would hire villagers to help them plant and harvest their crops, clear fields, and maybe build an occasional barn or house.
Everything Bree's people needed they seem to have grown or made for themselves at the end of the Third Age. They grew their own pipeweed (Southlinch was the variety Barliman gave to Gandalf and the Hobbits after the War of the Ring). They probably engaged an occasional Dwarf for smith-work, or contracted with Dwarves for special projects, but otherwise seem to have become quite independent and self-sufficient in the long years of the late Third Age.
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