A township in the Gondorian region of Lamedon, Calembel stood at the fords3 that crossed Ciril, a river that flowed on after those fords to join the river Ringló some miles to the south of the town. Calembel was the westernmost of the recorded settlements of Gondor's Outlands, and was the first that would be reached by a traveller descending eastward from the pass of Tarlang's Neck. Beyond it to the east, after a journey of some forty miles, lay the next settlement on the road, Ethring on the upper Ringló.
Calembel played a small part in the War of the Ring, because it lay on the route taken by Aragorn and his followers as they travelled eastward from Erech, followed by the host of the Dead. They reached Calembel on 9 March III 3019, but found the town deserted. Its fighting Men had gone to war, and those who were left behind had fled up into the hills at the rumour of the approaching Dead. Aragorn and his people camped at Calembel for the night, and set out the following day, continuing a long journey that would see them reach Pelargir three days later. After Aragorn had led the Grey Host away down the eastward road, the people of Calembel would have been free to return to their homes, but we hear no more of them in the histories of the time.
Notes
1 |
We have no information about the foundation of Calembel, except that we can say for sure that it existed at the end of the Third Age. The fact that it was connected by road to Pelargir (which was founded in the Second Age, in II 2350) implies that the town might have been very old indeed. This is far from conclusive, however (it is quite conceivable that the town was established later, and the road built after the event) so Calembel may not have existed until after the foundation of the realm of Gondor in II 3320.
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2 |
'Greenham' is Tolkien's own interpretation of the name Calembel, from his extended index to The Lord of the Rings. This comes from Elvish calen 'green' and the old word bel meaning a small village or hamlet. (We might perhaps expect the bel in Calembel to have some connection with the same element in nearby Belfalas, but this does not seem to be the case.)
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3 |
Detailed maps of this part of Gondor show Calembel some miles to the east of the river and its crossing, but the text of The Lord of the Rings, as well as Tolkien's detailed index to the book, are explicit that it was the town overlooked the fords themselves. Perhaps we are to take it that it was a scattered or elongated settlement, running up from the fords into the hills to the eastward point marked on the map.
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- Updated 5 August 2026
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