Intro --- Pre-maze --- Cretan --- Roman --- Chartres --- Turf --- Garden --- Other --- Design --- Designer
The quaint mazes in the wanton green for lack of tread are undistinguishable. Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
How old are they? Who knows? Some have a documented history, but even that may not tell the whole story. By their nature, you can't tell much about their history by looking at them. As Shakespeare points out (see the quote above), you need to constantly remake a turf maze or it disappears. We don't even necessarily know whether the design is original. The first mention of Saffron Walden in 1699 describes it as being recut, and this has happened several times since. Normally, a recut would redo the original design, but if you got bored with it, you could change the design. The earliest plan of the maze is from 1768. But all these dates do is tell us is that the maze is at least this old. The Hilton maze has a monument in the centre saying that that it was cut in 1660. But was it created then, or was this a recutting? The quotes from Shakespeare show that he knew about the mazes, which pushes the history back another century, but he seems to think of them as disappearing. It's tempting to think that these mazes may be much older, but no evidence, alas!
The traditional turf mazes don't have original designs; they use the Chartres or Cretan designs. It would be easy to get excited by the Cretan design, and assume that this is evidence for these mazes being very old indeed. But the Cretan design has been known for a long time, and people making a maze may have decided that it would be a good pattern to copy. The Chartres design seems to give a definite point; those mazes can't be older than 1235 AD, when Chartres cathedral was built. Well, the mazes in that form can't be older, but what if their original design were Cretan too? Then the local churches may have decided that these mazes were associated with dubious customs (see myths), and demanded that the mazes were recut in a more Christian pattern - the Chartres design, whose arms signify the cross of Christ. That would allow all the mazes to be very old indeed. I suspect not, though. But they are centuries old, which is good enough.
Traditional turf mazes have inspired several modern mazes. Some use traditional designs, but some have designed their own pattern, which is excellent! There are a few on this page, at the bottom.
The turf mazes are all unicursal, that is, they have no choices or branches. There is a single path wiggling its way to the centre. They are all flat. They are set in grass, and they are made by digging up a strip of turf revealing the ground beneath. Sometimes the cut bit is the path and the grass between the wiggles, the 'walls', and sometimes the grass turf is the path and the ground the 'walls'. You can see that such a maze would easily disappear if the grass starts growing back, which it would have a tendency to do. In modern times, the maintainers of turf mazes have very sensibly laid bricks or other material in the cut areas to make the mazes more durable. I find it quite strange that there isn't agreement whether the grass is the path or the walls. It seems so obvious that you don't want to walk on the grass, as this would wear it out. In fact, Shakespeare's quote (above) shows that "for want of tread" the maze is disappearing, which shows that people walking on the path wore the encroaching grass away to preserve the maze. A flat maze does seem odd. You expect a maze with real walls rather than just a pattern on the ground. But it has the advantage that when you've walked it, you can just walk out in a straight line, stepping over all the walls on the way out. It also means that you can see the pattern laid out before you. Hedge mazes are fun to get lost in, but they do look rather dull, as the hedge stop you from seeing anything.
Standard Chartres design
Super Chartres design
Mini Chartres design
Standard Cretan design
Double Cretan design
Other designs
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| Alkborough | Dalby | Hilton | Somerton | Wing | |
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| Photos from Google maps |
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| OS Grid ref | SE880218 | SE625718 | TL293663 | SP519279 | SK895028 |
| Breamore | Saffron Walden | Winchester | |
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| Photos from Google maps |
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| OS Grid ref | OS Grid SU142202 | OS Grid TL543385 | OS Grid SU485276 |
There is more about this maze on the Uttlesford District Council.
Hilton maze is on the common of the village of Hilton, north of Cambridge. There is a stone monument in the middle, and a notice describing the maze. Unlike Saffron Walden's maze (above), the grass is the path, with a sunken gravelled area as 'walls'.
Click on the photo of the notice for a larger (readable) version. Below are the parts of the notice about the maze.
Hilton Maze is one of the eighth surviving turf mazes in England. According to the Latin inscription on the monument in the centre, it was cut in 1660 by the nineteen year old William Sparrow to commemorate the restoration of Charles II to the throne.
GVLIELMVS SPARROW GEN. NATVS ANO, AETATIS SVE 88 QUANDO OBIT, HOS FORMAVIT ANNO 1660
"William Sparrow, Gentleman, born in the year 1641, aged 88 when he died, fashioned these circles in the year 1660."
He probably copied the pattern of the Maze from a maze, now destroyed, at Comberton, where his brother-in-law, Barron Brittaine, lived. The Maze, like all turf mazes, is unicursal. That is to say that it has one single path, with no wrong turnings, coiled into an endless labyrinth. This particular pattern is often found in medieval art, most notably on the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France.
The origin of mazes is uncertain, but it has been suggested that they were used as a sort of mini-pilgrimage, to be traversed on one's knees as a penance - alternatively that they were used in a rite to cast out the Devil, who could only travel in straight lines.
Turf mazes were once common on village greens, but they disappear if they are neglected, as Shakespeare suggests in A Midsummer Night's Dream:
The quaint mazes in the wanton green,
for lack of tread are undistinguishable.
I should point out that the monument itself must have been put up considerably after the maze was made, unless they could predict that the man was going to die more nearly 70 years later! In fact, the monument has wiped out part of the centre of the maze. You can see from the photo that there are at most 9 circuits, while a Chartres maze should have 11. Now, assuming that the monument was put up as a monument to William Sparrow, Gentleman, 70 years is a very long time to remember the details of what happened. Did he really make the maze, or did he merely recut an older maze? You would expect that 'the wanton green' would be extremely unpopular during Puritan times, and the Restoration would be a good opportunity to bring back the old times. Would people remember this 70 years later, or would they exaggerate the feat on his monument? Since they destroyed part of the centre of the maze, it suggests that they didn't have much feeling for it, or possibly that it was falling into decline again, and the centre had already been lost.
The quaint mazes in the wanton green, for lack of tread are undistinguishable. Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream Act II Sc 1
Here's a maze trod indeed, through forth-rights and meanders! Gonzalo in The Tempest Act III Sc 3
These quotes by Shakespeare (1564-1616) give a vivid glimpse of turf mazes. He insists that you 'tread' a maze; nowadays, we would say 'walk' a maze instead, perhaps. The Chartres design is notable for right-angled bends (forth-rights) and slow curves (meanders). The paths of turf mazes disappear unless people tread them (walk along the paths). Several turf mazes are indeed on village greens (although perhaps not quite so 'wanton' in modern times!) The notice board on the Hilton maze mentions this quote.
Shakespeare mentions labyrinths as well, as places to get lost rather than somewhere you walk.
Thou mayst not wander in that labyrinth; there Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk. Suffolk in Henry VI, Part i, Act 5, Scene 3
What, lost in the labyrinth of thy fury! Thersites in Troilus and Cressida, Act 2, Scene 3
And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare,
Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles
How he outruns the wind and with what care
He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles:
The many musets through the which he goes
Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.
Venus and Adonis, Stanza 112
Again, the doubling back of the hare is very like the doubling back of the path of a maze.
You may have noticed that I have scattered other people's quotes throughout this website, under the headings.
Please note that modern designs are copyright, and if you wish to use them, you should contact their creator.
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Bispham Drive Junior School (near Nottingham) built a turf maze in their school grounds of a baby Chartres design. They built it as a millennium project using muscle power from 65 pupils aged 10-11 years old. They made the paths with 3 tonnes of crushed Derbyshire gritstone. It only took 1 day of intensive work and has proved very popular with the other pupils. It's 12 m across and takes 97m, or one minute forty seconds of normal walking, to reach the centre.
As this is a school, it's a private maze. |
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Maze at ThetfordJohn Davies has made a turf labyrinth in his garden on the site of a hard tennis court no longer used. It is surrounded by oaks and beech with a few Scots pine. It is a copy of the design of the one at Chartres although slightly larger. It's in deep country in rural Norfolk near Thetford and is a place of peace and tranquillity.It is open to the public by appointment and when the garden is open for the National Gardens Scheme or other local charities. He does not encourage casual callers! If you're interested in visiting: ring John Davies at +44(0)1953 885900 |
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His webpage gives an account of its design and construction, with photos and hints for other maze-makers |
Tom Baxter visited the maze at Saffron Walden, and was inspired to design and build a maze of his own in his yard (garden). These were his criteria and this is his design:
* It must fit in his yard (so, a maximum of eight rings) * It should be a unicursal pattern * It should be interesting to walk (like the Chartres maze, not predictable like the Roman or Hanover) * It should be cruciform and reasonably symmetrical (like the Chartres maze) * It should look good * Most important! The spaces between the lines of the path should form a mystery maze (the get-lost variety) of moderate interest difficulty. After some snow, the brick path melted before the grass, giving this wonderful ghost maze.
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| Dave Johnson and his wife designed and built this maze to use some leftover bricks. He describes it as "A sort of mini-Chartres with 3 arms instead of 4. Only one little asymmetrical jog, near the center. We planted it in chamomile, for fragrant treading. It will take a while to grow in, but will be glorious when it does. The maze is, as you can see, very small (about 10 feet in diameter) so actually walking the path requires narrow feet and fine balance. But even paddle-footed me can straddle the path on the bricks, and have a satisfying journey that way." |  |
Nick Brazil has designed this maze which has been built in Whitchurch-on-Thames village, in Oxfordshire. See their webpage for details. The maze opened on Jun 27 2004, and here is a splendid photo of the opening.
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| If you look carefully at a Chartres maze, you will see that three of the arms have very similar (but not identical) patterns, made up of path straight through followed by paths looping back. The bottom arm is quite different, and much more complicated. |  |
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It occurred to me to try to design a maze with just simple arms. After some experimentation, I found that you could produce a maze in the Chartres pattern with three arms, each starting at a different point in the pattern.
If you are prepared to change the design slightly, you can produce a four armed maze with a slightly different pattern, with two paths straight through, followed by paths looping back. Both these mazes produce a path to the centre, with a different path coming out again. |
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I don't think that anyone has used either of these for a turf maze, but feel free to use them yourself, if you wish!
© Jo Edkins 2008 - Return to Maze index
