Range of hills in northeastern Middle-earth. The Iron Hills were isolated in the middle of an empty region about 125 miles east of the Lonely Mountain and Mirkwood. The range stretched about 200 miles from west to east. Near the western end, the Redwater flowed southward from the hills to join the River Running. On the eastern end, a spur of hills curved north and then back westward forming a hook at the end of the range. The Iron Hills were a major source of iron ore in Middle-earth. Dwarves may have mined the Iron Hills as early as the First Age. At one time the Old Forest Road through Mirkwood - then called the Great Dwarf Road - is said to have extended northeastward as far as the Iron Hills.
