When to use 'There is/are' and when is it not necessary?

Hello, I've been learning English for some time now and I'm really confused when it comes to the usage of 'there is/are' because in some sentences where I feel it should be present it's omitted. Currently, I'm reading 'The Lord of the Rings' and there appear sentences like:

'Besides Bree itself, there was Staddle on the other side of the hill, Combe in a deep valley a little further eastward, and Archet on the edge of Chetwood.'

And in contrast the sentence following it:

'Lying round Bree-hill and the villages was a small country of fields and tamed woodland only a few miles broad.'

Or these sentences:

'It seemed to Frodo that he was lifted up, and passing over he saw that the rock-wall was a circle of hills, and that within it was a plain, and in the midst of the plain stood a pinnacle of stone, like a vast tower but not made by hands. On its top stood the figure of a man.'

Why don't we have: there was a small country, within it there was a plain, in the midst there stood a pinnacle, on its top there stood, etc.? I've only started reading the book but I'be already noticed a lot of such instances and I don't know why they don't use the 'there is/are' structure. Does the 'within it' count as the subject of the sentence? If yes why doesn't 'besides Bree' count as one? Can you explain this? I'd really appreciate it if you did :-)