• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Labyrinths

Whilst walking through Reading Station this lunchtime, I saw this promotion for an exhibition devoted to the great labyrinth (and presumably Minotaur too) at Knossos.
I know Oxford has become one of the most driver-unfriendly cities in the UK, but I'm tempted to risk it to see what the Ashmolean has on show.

20230324_124110.jpg
 
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.




1696521118880.png
 
I lived in Saffron Walden for about 18 months, years back.
I think I tried to get in to the maze about 2 or 3 times, but it was closed to the public. So, it's probably best to check that it's open before making the trek.

Edit: Oh! Apparently, it's now open 24 hrs a day, every day of the week!
This is just the turf maze - there are other mazes nearby.
 
Last edited:
I've seen the wing maze but was working and couldn't stop. I've always wanted to go back.
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.
It's so weird you described it this way. I hesitate to mention this, because it involves one of my very few experiences reading erotica. (Turns out I don't like dirty books.) However, this one had some interesting folklore elements. In one scene, the characters find a fairy ring, as in the fungus ring. By looking through a stone with a hole (I assume a hag stone type of thing, but can't remember if it was described as such), they see a glowing maze inside. One of the characters explains it would actually be a straight path between the fairy world and our dimension or whatever if you could walk it, but it's the space itself that's folded. I assumed that the author intended it to be a 'troy town' or 'cretan labyrinth' type of design, although what that has to do with the man made one's I don't know. Anyway, it was an idea that stuck with me. The story would have been fun if the characters could've kept their hands off each other.
 
We ride past this chapel on one of our regular runs. I keep meaning to investigate the garden and especially the labyrinth.

Poole Methodist Quiet Garden and Labyrinth

POOLE METHODIST QUIET GARDEN AND LABYRINTH
The small Methodist Chapel has been there for over 175 years. It is one of the oldest chapels in the Cheshire South Methodist Circuit.

We have created a community Quiet Garden at the back of the chapel which is open all year round. It is affiliated to the Quiet Garden Movement and advertised through them. It is advertised on the tourist trail in Nantwich as a place to visit.
 
Whilst walking through Reading Station this lunchtime, I saw this promotion for an exhibition devoted to the great labyrinth (and presumably Minotaur too) at Knossos.
I know Oxford has become one of the most driver-unfriendly cities in the UK, but I'm tempted to risk it to see what the Ashmolean has on show.

View attachment 64629

Having attempted to drive around Oxford, I'd suggest that their labyrinthine one-way system has probably provided more than a little inspiration for that exhibition.
 
Popped out for breakfast, visited the labyrinth on way back. Not disappointed.
 

Attachments

  • Labyrinth 4.jpeg
    Labyrinth 4.jpeg
    118.9 KB · Views: 27
  • Labyrinth 3.jpeg
    Labyrinth 3.jpeg
    308.2 KB · Views: 29
  • Labyrinth 2.jpeg
    Labyrinth 2.jpeg
    263 KB · Views: 29
  • Labyrinth 1.jpeg
    Labyrinth 1.jpeg
    175.2 KB · Views: 30
There is an ancient Etruscan vase with a 'labyrinth/City of Troy' maze on it, which includes the word TRUIA, which probably refers to Troy.
truia.png

Some people think this shows cavalry issuing from Troy; others think it shows a complex game of equestrianism, mentioned by Virgil, which involved riders riding in a complex (and apparently risky) pattern in the so-called 'Troy Game'. How this translates into the City of Troy maze in the British countryside I've no idea.

I've been to the Dalby one several times (it's the smallest) and to Julian's Bower; you can just about see York Minster from that one, even though the maze is located in Lincolnshire 40 miles away. I've been to a few modern ones as well, some of which have been neglected in recent years and may not exist any more.
 
Yesterday I hiked from High Wycombe to Aylesbury, and on the way stopped off at Holy Trinity Church just outside Prestwood, Buckinghamshire. Wandering around the graveyard, I found this little labyrinth in the garden of remembrance:

20231111_121249.jpg

I walked it, of course!
 
Coincidentally and immediately after reading this thread I was looking on Google for the site of a small airfield next to the A36 near Norton St Philip (for a post I'm going to make elsewhere on this Forum) when I found this, adjacent to the airfield.

I didn't know the airfield was there at all, especially one with its own labyrinth.

Screenshot 2023-11-13 at 16.58.01.png
 
Back
Top