JRR Tolkien's Oxford family home for sale at £4.5m

The house where author JRR Tolkien is believed to have written The Hobbit has gone on sale for more than £4m.

The six-bedroom home in Northmoor Road, Oxford, was home to the writer and his family from 1930 until 1947.

It was one of many built to house some of the county's leading academics in the 1920s, and has been described by an estate agent as "an important part of Oxford's history".

The house - which has a blue plaque - has an asking price of £4,575,000.

Tolkien's study was in the drawing room of the large detached brick building, and he also worked on The Lord of the Rings there.

His family first lived at number 22 but he later acquired the lease of the house next door, which has a larder, breakfast room, and six bedrooms.

The house was bought by a private buyer in 2004 for more than £1.5m.

Despite having no special architectural qualities it was given Grade II-listed status shortly afterwards on the basis of Professor Tolkien's importance.

Oxfordshire estate agents Breckon and Breckon said it was "situated on a generous plot within a leafy central north Oxford suburb".

It described it as "substantial", covering "over two floors providing almost 4,000 sq ft of accommodation".

Tolkien died in 1973, but the popularity of his works remains undimmed, with Amazon Studios recently announcing a Lord of the Rings television series.

The show is widely tipped to be the most expensive ever made, at a cost of at least $1bn (£801m).