Post Sections ⇅
- Gathering Overview
- Apprentice Crafting Materials in the Shire
- Apprentice “Gathering” for Tailors
- Journeyman Crafting Materials in the Shire
- Materials from Lockboxes
- Shire Crafting Materials Gathering Map
Gathering crafting materials in the Shire may be one of the first things your character starts after a few initial quests. I have wanted to start a new series on gathering for ages. And with me needing to mould my LOTRO guides around my health more, now seemed as good a time as any.
The Shire offers mostly Apprentice-level materials, but there is more than enough of Journeyman to get you started too. And I’ll also tackle the tricky subject of Scholar nodes in the Shire! Let’s get cracking and crafting.
Gathering Overview
Gathering Professions
There are three “primary” gathering professions in LOTRO:
- Forester – chops wood (has buttered scones for tea).
- Prospector – mines metals and other precious resources.
- Scholar – finds relics to research.
Forester is the first profession to have its own LOTRO Crafting Event too. Players of all crafting levels can take part.
Farmers are technically gatherers but they mostly gather from what they have sown. As a farmer would.
For more on professions, see my LOTRO Crafting Guide.
Where to Train Gathering Skills in the Shire
You’ll find the Shire trainers at Michel Delving. If you have the quest “Outfitting Yourself and Others
“, then it can be completed here too – Hobbits may have it marked on their map.
It is at this outdoor crafting area you can choose up to three crafting and/or gathering professions.
See How to train LOTRO Crafting Professions for a list of trainers in all the starter zones.
Apprentice Crafting Materials in the Shire
Okay, so you’ve chosen your professions, which includes at least one gathering skill. Or, as I did yesterday, you may have put all the gathering skills onto one character.
Which Apprentice gathering nodes can you find in the Shire?
Copper Deposits
Possible items you can mine from Copper Deposits:
Copper Ore
Copper Salts- Piece of Sienna
Farming Copper
Copper Deposits are over most of the Shire. However, from my scouting, it seems there are two or three locations that have a higher concentration.
Note: a dot means I have found a node there, but they may not all be active at the same time.
Rowan Branches
Foresters can find the following in fallen Rowan Branches:
Rowan Logs
Common Flax Fibre
Drop of Sticky Resin
Note: In case you skipped past copper, dots can have Rowan Branches, but not all dots exist at the same time.
Shattered Pitchers
Scholars research shattered pitchers to reveal:
Aged Scrap of Text
Dim Candle
Where Are They?
Apparently, the locations of Shattered Pitchers do not fit into a nice mini-map! See the Apprentice Scholar Materials section for the low-down!
Other Random Crafting Materials
You can also find the occasional ingredient for Cooking recipes. Others, for the Scholars, can be used for dye creation:
Indigo Plant
Yarrow Root
You may find others. I need to bring my farmer (as in the crafting profession) around here. While they’re not a traditional gatherer, they can track crops, which includes dye plants.
What are “Heavy” and “Rich”?
They mean same thing but apply to different types of crafting materials. A “heavy” or “rich” node should have more materials in it than one without those descriptors.
Sometimes you just get more of the same material, other times you may have a wider mix of the wood and metal with other components.
Apprentice Scholar Materials
Having scoured the Shire (okay, not that Scouring of the Shire!), I have only found three locations of Shattered Pitchers. So far. I want to check back at locations I felt ought to have one but didn’t.
Where to get Aged Scraps of Text in the Shire
These are the locations I’ve found so far:
- Bindbole Woods Ruin
- Bridgefields Wall
- Old Odo’s Leaf-farm
The exact location of the Shattered Pitcher changes semi-regularly. The one at the ruin can sometimes be a few paces away from it, for example.
Keep
Track Artifacts on!
Bindbole Wood
At the ruin in Bindbole Wood you can find a Shattered Pitcher. Well, assuming it hasn’t been grabbed by another player and it hasn’t respawned yet!
Bridgefields Wall
Bridgefields Wall is a great place for Wolf-slayer, but also had a Shattered Pitcher!
Old Odo’s Leaf-farm
Finding a Shattered Pitcher at Old Odo’s Leaf-farm took me aback. Normally, scholar materials are in ancient ruins, not overrun pipeweed farms.
This location is one to warm up the Shire Brigand-slayer Deed, or maybe to finish it off.
It’s also part of the Farms of the Shire Deed.
There might be only a few, but it seems the respawn timers can be as low as every 4-5 minutes. So you could just roam between all the locations and enjoy the ride.
– Other Ways for Aged Scraps of Text
While there is a small handful of shattered pitchers to research, there is another way. Humanoid enemies have a chance to drop crafting materials, including scholar ones.
- Aged Scraps of Text have a chance to drop from humanoids of Level 12 or under.
Worn Tablet Fragments can drop from humanoids of Level 13 and over in the Shire.
Goblins
I had a greater haul from defeating goblins in the area leading to Golfimbul’s Hole (24.7S, 69.5W) and Scrag-dells, (24.8S, 66.6W).
Related Deeds
Brigands
There is a chance of Scholar crafting materials dropping from Brigands. However, I received far fewer artifacts from human brigands than from goblins. So, I guess, goblins study harder?
- Old Odo’s Leaf-farm
- Narrowcleeve (around 35.2S, 66.8W), Green Hill Country
Yes, this brigand is sat inside her bow…
Related Deed
Dourhand Dwarves
North of Rushock Bog is a camp of Dourhand Dwarves called Pinglade. A fair few can be found outside of the camp too.
They don’t count towards the Shire Slayer Deed, just so you know.
Look Out for Cooking Materials
When defeating enemies, occasionally cooking material components end up in loot. Not so much crops, but, for example a 
Sprig of Allspice increases a cook’s critical chance. That means they can make their food even better.
Apprentice “Gathering” for Tailors
Obviously, gathering looks different for Tailors, because you can’t just go and dig up animal skins (because, ewww). Instead you have to hunt for them.
Farming Light Hides in the Shire
Many land creatures of L12 or under give 
Light Hides for Apprentice crafters. Examples include wolves, boars and bears.
Some key locations are:
The Wolf Den
(30.3S, 72.8W), just North of Dora Brownlock’s.
Bear Dens
(34.5S, 70.4W)
Related Deeds
Journeyman Crafting Materials in the Shire
In the North-East of the Shire, you can find most Journeyman gathering nodes and creatures for 
Medium Hides. I was not able to find any scholar nodes here, though see Journeyman Scholar Crafting Materials for an alternative.
I was pleasantly surprised how many Ash and Barrow-Iron nodes there really were in the Shire. It means you can, in fact, gear yourself up for Bree-land before moving into that zone if you want.
Barrow-Iron Deposit
The list of possible crafting materials in the Shire grows with Journeyman nodes. These include more Jeweller items, as well as other ingredients that help achieve critical success in crafting.
Silver Deposit
Prospectors can mine up the following from Silver Deposits.
Ash Branch
If you’re a Forester and have completed the Proficiency level of Apprentice Forestry, then you can hack away at Ash Branches. These can drop:
Journeyman Gathering Nodes
Barrow-Iron/Silver
Scary seems to be a stone quarry, and appears to only have the occasional mining node. Also, when I did see nodes here, they were Copper Deposits, not Barrow-iron.
Ash Branches
Journeyman Scholar Crafting Materials
As far as I can tell, there are no Journeyman Scholar gathering nodes. However, humanoids of Level 13 and above have a chance to drop Worn Tablet Fragments.
The only places I think that have enemies at that level would be the goblins we mentioned earlier. Their levels range between L11-13 I think. Certainly, the first option below is where I managed to snag some.
- In the area leading to Golfimbul’s Hole – the Greenfields, on the West Side
- The Scrag-dells (24.5S, 67.1W) – the Greendfields, on the East Side.
Farming Medium Hides in the Shire
Medium Hides can drop from Level 13 creatures in the North-East of the Shire.
Look especially for Mature Black-bears, which can be found:
- Bridgefields (the hill, just North of Budgeford): (30.8S, 66.7W)
- In the North-East of Brockenborings and North of The Quarry at Scary.
Materials from Lockboxes
The last source of crafting materials in the Shire is lockboxes. These wooden chests are sometimes found in enemy camps, or ruins with humanoid foes in them.
In the Shire these are sometimes, maybe always, called Supply Crates. What? My memory’s terrible and I rarely say “I definitely know something”, because when I do I’m proven wrong! Whatever these wooden boxes are called, I’ve marked them on my Shire Gathering Map below.
I doubt the respawn timers are regular, but I’ve never waited long enough to find out!
Other “Boxes”
Other items you can find around in the Shire may also contain crafting materials:
- Backpacks: These appear at seemingly-random locations. Oh, don’t worry, the owner won’t be coming back to collect it. Probably.
- Cocoons: Rummage around, get your hands sticky with webbing, pull out the skins of some poor animal that died in there, whoop. Just hold your breath, you need the resources after all. I hope. In terms of the Shire, the Cocoons are in the North of Bindbole Wood and Scary Quarry.
Shire Crafting Materials Gathering Map
All dots marked had a node there at some time. But they may not all be active at the same time. Use your eyes – and, more importantly, your Tracking Skills!
Track Artifacts 
Track Mines 
Track Wood If you want to use my map in your own creations, please let me know. I make stuff for the LOTRO community, but in the same way I link to a resource I used, I’d rather be credited for having made the map (with or without a link, I don’t care).
If you tell me, then we can do what’s best for the LOTRO community, together.
TL;DR Go Forth and Gather Crafting Materials in the Shire
…and then everywhere else!
Getting to know where materials are found is a really helpful skill to develop when playing LOTRO. Whether it’s to help a kinmate out or to gear your next alt character, you need easy access to the materials you require. This is especially true if you haven’t hoarded every possible rock in your LOTRO storage!
But remember to enjoy the journey as well as getting crafting materials in the Shire – it’s still a beautiful region after all these years.
Enjoy your time in Middle-Earth, folks!
About the Author
I have been playing MMOs for about ten years and began writing guides to The Lord of the Rings Online in 2017. I've only been creating content about Final Fantasy XIV since 2022, but I am glad for the mix. My current games include LOTRO, FFXIV and the occasional Palia session too.
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