Christian antiquities -- England; Churches -- England
Among those which have been preserved, the following may be noticed. At
Alkborough, in Lincolnshire, near the confluence of the Trent and the
Ouse, is a maze, the diameter of which is 44 feet; by a happy
suggestion, the design of this has been repeated, as was above remarked,
in the porch of the Parish Church, so that should the original
unfortunately be destroyed, a permanent record has been provided.
Hilton, in Huntingdonshire has a maze of exactly the same plan, in the
centre of which is a stone pillar, bearing an inscription in Latin and
English, to the effect that the work was constructed in 1660, by William
Sparrow. Comberton, in Cambridgeshire, possesses a maze, locally known
as the "Mazles," which is fifty feet in diameter. The pathway is two
feet wide, and is defined by small trenches, the whole surface being
gradually hollowed towards the centre. Northamptonshire is represented
by Boughton Green, which has a labyrinth 37 feet in diameter; and
Rutland has one at Wing, which measures 40 feet.
[Illustration: THE MIZE-MAZE ON ST. KATHERINE'S HILL, WINCHESTER.]
At Asenby, in the parish of Topcliffe, Yorkshire, is a maze measuring 51
feet across, which has been carefully preserved by the local
authorities. At Chilcombe, near Winchester, a maze is cut in the turf of
S. Catherine's Hill; it is square in outline, each side being 86 feet.
It is locally known as the "Mize-maze." One much larger than any yet
noticed is found near Saffron Waldon, in Essex, its diameter being 110
feet. There are local records which prove the great antiquity of a maze
at this place. The design is peculiar, being properly a circle, save
that at four equal distances along the circumference the pathway sweeps
out into a horseshoe projection.
[Illustration: THE MAZE NEAR ST. ANNE'S CHAPEL, NOTTINGHAM.]
A similar plan was followed in cutting a maze, once of some celebrity,
near S. Anne's Well, at Sneinton, Nottingham. The projections in this
case are bolder, and within the spaces enclosed by the triple pathway
which swept around them were cut cross-crosslets. The popular names for
this maze in the district were the "Shepherd's Maze," and "Robin
Hood's Race." This was, unfortunately, ploughed up in 1797, at the
enclosure of the lordship of Sneinton. Nottinghamshire has, however,
another example in the small square one at Clifton.
[Illustration: MAZE FORMERLY EXISTING NEAR ST. ANNE'S WELL,
SNEINTON, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.]
Many of these turf-cut labyrinths were destroyed during the
Commonwealth, before which period, according to Aubrey in his history
of Surrey, there were many in England. Not a few, however, which
survived that time of wanton destruction, have been obliterated since.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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