Axbridge

Axbridge was a small village marking the crossing of the River Fayne by the Redway, the old Dwarven road from Tharbad into Siragale. The road lost its red stone paving as it descended from Sarn Gap in the White Downs into the marshy river bottoms, but the old causeway, anchored by stone pillars and built of enchanted oaken planks , still kept the traveler dry in all but the highest floods. The ax symbol burned into important segments of the bridge dated back hundreds of years. The timbers of the causeway did not rot, and its stone anchors neither sank nor swayed.

Axbridge in TA 1640
The boggy nature of its ground had long kept Axbridge smaller than Sackville (Burh Sachem), its companion village farther up the Fayne. However, the thugs running the two hamlets shared a rough tradition and a continuing animosity toward the Hobbits swarming into the country. A clan of Dunnish immigrants, the Dreub-dign , controled this most important crossroads. Nominally appointed by the Prince to keep the bridge and its approaches free of flood-debris and properly graded, they charged a "toll " for any man or Hobbit who crossed it without an armed guard. Cluad, the clan tark or chieftain ,was in league with Molloye of Buhr Sachem and Durkin of Longbottom , over the divide on the River Reedly. Acting in concert, they hoped to re-establish the rule of Men in the area.