That's interesting, Rynner, thanks!
Some years ago I can remember visiting somewhere (in Leicestershire, I think) and there was a maze cut in the turf, it wasn't like the Hampton Court maze with high hedges, just the outline of the maze in the turf. Can't remember where it was now, does anyone else have any details?
Carole
Yes - it's at a place called Wing, and is apparently based on the Chartres maze (the design inlaid on the floor of Chartres Cathederal).
I was there today. I've visited it 3 or 4 times over the last 40 years.
Specimen photo from the web below. If you want to see more, just search images for "Wing maze."
It is a unicursal maze, that is a maze that has only one path, with no forks or junctions. There is no puzzle element to it, and there is no possibility of getting lost.
Topologically, it is equivalent to a single straight line, but
topographically it is folded up in a fairly regular manner to fit in the smallest space.
You walk on the grass, not the white ballast in between.
Many sources say mazes of this kind were "ritual" but the notice board at Wing says that this itself is a fairly new interpretation and that there is historical evidence that races used to be run on them at village festivities. Without timing equipment, it is difficult to see how this would be adjudicated.
Many sources differentiate between a "maze" (multiple paths, an element of puzzle, a risk of getting lost) and a "labyrinth" (single route). However, this is a fairly modern distinction. The two concepts are ancient, and the two words are old, but the distinction between the usage of the two words is quite modern, and not as clear cut as some would have you believe.
The so called Cretan labyrinth is a particular pattern in which the path follows 7 almost complete circles around the central point or destination. Starting from the outside, the route takes you round the circle in this order: 3, 2, 1, 4, 7, 6, 5, centre. Although it is called "Cretan", with obvious reference to the minotaur legend, it is much older.
Wing does not fit this Cretan pattern having a more elaborate shape, and 9 rings. It has been compared to the one at Chartres Cathedral.
At Saffron Walden, Essex, England, there is a very much more elaborate unicursal maze. If you follow the route, it is (from memory) about 1,500 yards long. I had a sort of "Fortean insight" there once. Having walked the whole distance, I stood on the very slightly raised mound in the middle and looked at the view and was "surprised by how much I could see" even though I was only 15 metres or so from where I had started. I could only see the same things, of course, but the fact that I had made an effort to get to where I was standing (by following the maze) made me appreciate the view differently.