Mazes of the Thames Valley

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LandsEnd	Exmoor	Mendips	.

Mazes of the Thames Valley & Beyond

London	.	London	.
TQ1268	Hampton Court	The Famous hedge maze was part of a larger garden called "The Wilderness" constructed in 1690 (see right >) The current maze is in the bottom left of the plan, the rest of the garden has been re-designed but later gardeners were told to leave the maze well alone! Harris asked me if I'd ever been in the maze at Hampton Court. He said he went once to show somebody else the way. He had studied it up on a map and it was so simple that it seemed foolish - hardly worth the twopence charge for admission. Harris said he thought the map must have been got up as a practical joke because it wasn't a bit like the real thing, and only misleading....... Thus begins the adventure of the maze in Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat.
TQ2274	Putney Heath	Site of turf maze	.
TQ2677	Chelsea	Cremorne Gardens Pleasure Gardens 1845 -1877
TQ2979	Tothill Fields	The Maze - site of Turf Maze - restored 1672, now lost. "There is a maze at this day in Tuthill Fields, Westminster, and much frequented in summer-time in fair afternoons" John Aubrey 1686	.
TQ3179	Southwark	Former grounds belonging to the abbot of Battle Abbey. "spacious gardens with walls and a maze" Area later known as The Maze	.
TQ3977	Greenwich	Maze Hill - site of Turf Maze	.
TQ4745	Edenbridge	Hever Castle . Puzzle hedge maze in yew (planted 1905)	.
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Herts	.	Hertfordshire	.
TL2308	Hatfield House	Puzzle hedge maze in Yew (planted 1840). Also a small one in box in the knot garden.	.
TL5438	Saffron Walden	"The Maze" on The Common. Largest existing Turf Maze, its 1,500m path is marked out with bricks.
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Windsor	.	Windsor Forest	.
SU7180	Sonning Common	The Herb Farm - The Saxon Hedge Maze (modern puzzle). Find your way to the centre via the eyes of 4 sea monsters planted with 4 important anglo-saxon herbs. At the centre, the maze can be viewed from a mound.	.
SU7282	Greys Court	The Archbishops Maze - Turf Maze - result of a dream by Robert Runcie (then Archbishop of Canterbury). The paths are laid out in brick.
SU7660	Bramshill	Maze Hill. Possible site of Turf Maze
SU8868	Bracknell	The Cuckoo's Nest turf maze. Cut into front lawn by author. Folkscape logo. Shown here picked out by late snow. See also Here
SU8746	Farnham	Crooksbury Hill: Not to be confused with Hillbury: See below	.
SU9146	Guildford	Hillbury: In Mazes and Labyrinths Their History and Development, W. H. Matthews mentions a "Troy Town" on "Hillbury" between Guildford and Farnham.	.
SU9547	Compton	Watts Chapel : Mazes in brick and stucco. Click for more
TQ0248	Guildford	St. Martha's Hill. Reputed site of turf maze	.
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Chilterns	.	Chiltern Hills	.
SP8405	Ellesborough	Chequers House. The 1629 estate map shows an 11 circuit medieval turf maze just beyond the Bowling Green. This became known as The Druid's Maze before becoming overgrown in the 1920's
TQ0198	Chenies	Chenies Manor Turf and gravel maze (cut 1983) design from old painting.	.
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KennetE	.	Kennet East	.
SU5771	Stanford Dingley	Mazelands Farm. Possible site of Turf Maze.	.
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Oxford

Oxfordshire

SP1822

Wyck Rissington

In 1950 Canon Harry Cheales had a dream in which he was commanded to create a maze in the then overgrown rectory garden. It took 5 years to create the hedge maze of yew, privet and willow. An annual ceremonial walk was held on St. Laurence's Day. The design is recorded in a mosaic in the parish church.

SP4416

Woodstock

Rosamond's Bower - Legend - Henry II had a lover, the fair Rosamond who was kept from prying eyes in an underground room reached via winding passage-ways entered from the centre of a complex hedge maze. One day, however, on returning from visiting Rosamond, Henry had not realised that he had snagged a spur on a thread of silk. The tell tale thread led a suspicious Queen Eleanor to where Rosamond hid. Poor Rosamond was offered a goblet of poison or dagger with which to kill herself by the furious Queen - and she chose the poison.
Blenheim Palace symbolic puzzle hedge maze in yew celebrating The Duke of Marlboroughs military victories.

SP5127

Somerton

Troy Town: Situated within the grounds of Troy Farm (not open to the public) this 60 foot diameter, 15 circuit classical turf labyrinth could be one of our oldest, its design pre-dating the medieval "Chartres" type.

SP5404

Temple Cowley

Tarry/Troy Town - Turf Maze - Destroyed 1852. Only 5 metres in diameter and located next to a small mound called "Cobbler's Knowl". A copy on nearby Bullingdon Green was next to several open-air Nine Men's Morris pitches.

The nine-men's-morris is filled up with mud
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread are undistinguishable
(Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream)


Temple Cowley Maze	Nine Men's Morris

KennetW	.	Kennet West	.
ST8043	Longleat	Longleat House: World's longest puzzle hedge maze in yew (planted 1978)	.
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Gloucs	.	Gloucestershire	.
SP0202	Cirencester	Roman Mosaic Floor Mazes	.
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Mendips	.	Mendip, Quantock & Blackdown Hills	.
ST1442	Kilve		Hedge Maze with Silver Birch Tree at Centre? No access to general public.
ST4938	Glastonbury		The church of St. John the Baptist in Glastonbury High Street has a 7 circuit classical labyrinth in the church yard (as well as a Holy Thorn). The ends of the brick lines marking out the maze have stones with symbols of various saints carved on them including one for Joseph of Aramathea with his Holy Thorn Tree. Many see this very same maze pattern in the terraces of nearby Glastonbury Tor
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LandsEnd	.	Lands End and The Lizard	.
SW7727	Glendurgan	Glendurgan Gardens: Cherry Laurel Maze	.

National

Other Sites in England & Wales

SV8707

St. Agnes (Scilly)

Stone Labyrinth

SX0789

Rocky Valley

Labyrinths carved into rock face

SU1420

Breamore

"Mizmaze" Turf Maze

SK4876

Blackgang Chine

Puzzle hedge maze in privet (planted 1962)

SU4827

Winchester

St Catherines Hill : "Mizmaze" Cut into the turf on the top of St Catherine's Hill, overlooking the River Itchen and Winchester, are the winding paths of the Mizmaze. It is said that a schoolboy detained at College during the Whitsun holidays cut the maze as well as composing the tune of "Dulce Domum" (The Winchester School Holiday Song) before drowning himself in the river. A more recent version has him hanging himself in the beech trees which now stand where an old chapel was.

Domum, domum, dulce domum!
Domum, domum, dulce domum;
Dulce, dulce dulce domum!
Dulce domum resonemus!

Home, home, joyous home!
Home, home, joyous home!
Joyous, joyous, joyous home!
Hurrah for joyous home!

Winchester

St. Giles' Hill: St. Giles' Fair
St. Cross Hospital: Wayfarers Dole
Twyford Church: Lost in the Dark Bells
Cathedral: St. Swithin
The Great Hall: King Arthur's Round Table

SP7665

Boughton Green

The Shepherd's Race (former Turf Maze) was situated on a triangular piece of land, the site of a famous fair granted a charter by Edward III in 1351 and connected with the nearby church of St. John the Baptist and its holy well. The fair stopped after 1915 and the maze was destroyed by army exercises in 1917.

TL2966

Hilton

Village Green. Turf Maze

TL5480

Ely

Ely Cathedral pavement labyrinth. Constructed by Sir Gilbert Scott during the Cathedral's restoration in 1870. After entrance at the west door.

TF4509

Wisbech

Chapel Road near Peckover House , North Brink, Wisbech. A map of 1900 shows the old privet hedge maze. The pattern can be seen laid out in bricks in the yard next to the Old Thatch Barn, now the tea rooms for Peckover House gardens. Link to National Trust Website.

A modern hedge maze has been planted nearby in the gardens of Elgoods Brewery .

TQ8253

Leeds (Kent)

Leeds Castle : Puzzle hedge maze with central tower and underground groto

SO5516

Symonds Yat

The Jubilee Maze : Puzzle hedge maze in Lawson's Cypress

SK2669

Chatsworth

Chatsworth House : Puzzle hedge maze in yew (planted 1962)

SK8902

Wing

"The Old Maze" Turf Maze. Spectators may have watched the sport of running the maze from a mound which once stood in an adjacent field.

SE8821

Alkborough

"Julian's Bower" Turf Maze, on high ground, overlooking the confluence of the River Trent and Humber estuary. Mentioned in the Diary of Abraham de la Pryme (between 1671 and 1704) "Gillian's Bore .... nothing but a great labyrinth cut upon the ground with a hill cast up round about for spectators to sitt round about on to behold the sport." Around 1800 it was still being used by villagers to play May-eve games "under an indefinite persuasion of something unseen and unknown co-operating with them." (Notes and Queries 1866 )

SJ4811

Shrewsbury

The Shoemaker's Race: Kingsland, Shrewsbury.Former turf maze owned and kept by the Patriotic Company of Shoemakers. Festivities were held here on the first Tuesday after Whitsun. It was surrounded by an enclosed garden.

.	.	International Perspective	.
Germany	Eilenriede Forest, Hanover.	The Rad turf maze. Only surviving turf labyrinth in Germany	.
Germany	Eberswalde	Zauberkreis (Magic Circle) Legend that the maze was cut by a shepherd condemned to death for some crime he had committed.	.
Bavaria	Kaufbeuren	Former Turf maze used in dance festivals until destroyed in 1942.	.
Poland	Slupsk	Windelburg (Coil City) Under guardianship of the Shoemaker's Guild who celebrated here every 3rd year on the Tuesday after Whitsun. A "May Count" was elected and he and his assistants would dance to the centre of the labyrinth where he would make a humurous speech and dance back out again.	.
Finland	Wier Island	Stone labyrinth	.
Gothland	Wisby	Stone labyrinth	.
.	Iceland	Stone or earth labyrinths called "Weylands House"	.
.	Norway & Sweden	Stone labyrinths called "Nun's Fence", "Maiden's Dance", "Round Castle", "Trolls castle", "Troy Town", "Stone Dance"	.
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