THE Ribble Valley's claims that it inspired JRR Tolkien to write "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy has been boosted by a £20,000 donation from the Tolkien Trust.

The cash has been donated to St Mary's Hall, part of Stonyhurst College, which is currently fund-raising to build a new library and study centre.

Work on the new centre, to be called the Tolkien Library, is expected to start in the New Year.

Scholars have long believed that Professor Tolkien, who also wrote 'The Hobbit', was a regular visitor to Stonyhurst College.

They knew that one of his sons, Michael, taught classics at Stonyhurst and St Mary's Hall in the 1960s and '70s and that his eldest son, John, who was studying for the priesthood, was evacuated with the English College in Rome to St Mary's Jesuit seminary during the Second World War.

South African-born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973), an Oxford professor, is one of the world's most popular fiction writers.

But proof that he stayed in the Ribble Valley had remained hidden until the recent discovery of a college visitors' book, in which his name appears many times between 1942-47.

Another astonishing find was his sketch of the guest house, New Lodge, on the back of which is a personal note to the owners, thanking them for a wonderful holiday.

The detective work has been done by Jonathan Hewat, a teacher at St Mary's Hall. He uncovered the evidence as part of proposals to launch a new Tolkien library and study centre at St Mary's.

Mr Hewat said: "It was during his time spent at Stonyhurst College that JRR Tolkien penned the long-awaited story of 'The Lord of the Rings', encouraged to do so by numerous requests from those who had read 'The Hobbit'."

He added that Tolkien found time to write part of 'The Lord of the Rings' in a classroom on the upper gallery at Stonyhurst College and would take walks with his son when not writing.

Last week budding actors from St Mary's Hall performed a short play at the Warner Village Cinemas, at the Capitol Centre, Walton-le-Dale, to explain the inspiration that Tolkien took from the Ribble Valley for his map of Middle Earth.

They then watched the new film, the first part of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Rings" -- starring Sir Ian McKellan, Iain Holme, Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee.

And a group of youngsters from the school were lucky enough to be invited to the premiere in London recently, because of the Tolkien connection.