Thames Valley Maps

Folkscape

National Map

 Maypoles, Maps and Mazes. The Landscape of Celebration.

Throughout the landscape can be found places of celebration, places where people gather to mark the changing seasons, celebrate the events of history and legend, play, dance, make music and have a generally good time. Dance around the Maypole, light Beacons on hill tops, tread the path of the Maze. Visit special Trees, carry Garlands of flowers and meet Jack in the Green. Encounter the Supernatural, attend Fairs & Festivals, watch the Morris Dancers and Mummers perform their ritual. Discover old Customs and Legends. Create Music and Dance. Investigate Churches & Buildings and Ancient Sites. Drink the waters of  Wells & Springs . Follow the Cycle of the Seasons
Common places for assembly would be: Hill tops, Moats & mounds, Trees, Stones, Springs, Bridges & Fords. These would be for Religious purposes, Legislation, Administratation (land rights, courts, charities & doles etc.) , Commerce (Markets & Fairs) or Recreation (Sports, Games, Music & Dance).  Recreational events would often be present at the other types of assembly and sometimes carried on when the original purpose became obsolete. Many Fun Fairs, developed from Trading Fairs (Nottingham Goose Fair for example). Some events advertised themselves with hill top fires, tall poles etc. which could be seen from afar.

The area covered in detail is the Thames Valley & Chilterns  traversed by the Thames Path from source to the Thames Barrier   
and the ancient Ridgeway from Overton Hill (near Avebury) to Ivinghoe Beacon.
Both ancient trading routes with a long history of fairs and gatherings.  Click Home for this area.

There is a National  (England & Wales) map and an International perspective is also given to some subjects.

Beacons

Mazes

Maypoles

Beacon Hill Ellesborough

Calendar

Maypole

Beacon Hill Ellesborough
One of a chain of beacons across the Chilterns
Lit to warn of invasion or in times of celebration

The folkscape "Cuckoo's Nest Maze"
inspired by the turf mazes of the English Village Green
and the folklore of the Cuckoo. Click on picture above  to go to the Calendar Page

The Maypole
Meeting place for dancing
and merriment.

Cabbage Hill
The beacon is lit on Cabbage Hill, Warfield to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Chains of beacon hills cross the countryside (now often topped by triangulation pillars or radio masts). Vital from early times as navigation, communications,  mapping points and gathering places for fairs, celebrations and strategic defence. In 1889 Joseph Houghton Spencer plotted lines through barrows, beacons and church towers, considering them the remnants of an ancient signalling system, such as that used during the approach of the Spanish Armada. Later authors interpreted these as mysterious "Ley Lines"Hurst Morris People
The Morris Dancers welcome in sumnmer evenings spent at local watering places!

Breamore Miz Maze
Hidden away in a clump of trees on Breamore Down and cut into the turf is the Mizmaze. The nearby village of Downtown held a Cuckoo Fair on 23rd April (these days on the May Day Bank Holiday) when it was said that the villagers opened the gate to let the Cuckoo fly through. The Wise Men of Gotham (Nottinghamshire) planted a hedge to stop the Cuckoo flying away and the summer with it. Clumps of trees are sometimes named Cuckoo Pen after this story.
(Washington Irvine called his native New York "Gotham City" - city of fools - hence the Gotham City of Batman) 





 

Hernes Oak 
The legend of Herne the Hunter is commemorated in the pub sign above. The older sign shows Herne on horseback blowing a hunting horn. The modern sign seems to depict him as a Robin Hood character, perhaps because of his appearance in a popular 1980s TV series: Robin of Sherwood. 
Hernes Oak  

The Green Man
Robin Hood plays were often performed around maypoles in medieval times. He is often associated with the wild man of the woods or the Green Man in modern iconography. Mysterious Green Men stone carvings can be found in some churches. 
The Herbalist
The pub name of "The Green Man  and (his) Still" refers to the travelling herbalist and his portable still used to distill essences (such as peppermint for cordial) from the herbs he gathered. The name is similar to "greengrocer", some of whom would also sell medicinal herbs as well as vegetables (pot herbs).

Warfield Church
The Green Man of  St Michael's Church, Warfield. The stone carving (shown in the tree here) and the stained glass window can be found inside the church.