Hedgerow Mazes

The oldest of the "Turf mazes" or "turf labyrinths" that appeared in England about the beginning of the eighteenth-century and develop into a ever-evolving part of the maze landscape.

Scholars tangle over whether the turf mazes are modeled after the Church ones or vice versa. In Mazes and Labyrinths of the World, Janet Bord writes, "there is reason to believe that there were mazes in stone and turf long before the mediaeval church builders began incorporating them in their designs" (13). Among other pieces of evidence, she mentions the mazes near ancient sites: St. Catherine's Hill, Winchester, Breamore maze near Celtic fields and the maze at Wing in Rutland (13). On the other hand, Kern points to the striking similiarities between the turf mazes and the church pattern, particularly that of Chartres.

Kern traces their history: "It is likely that strains fo various traditions converged in turf labyrinths. The original pagan constructions were probably linked to Scandinavian Troy towns and spring rites. Beginning in the 13th centur, the design was subjected to a Christian interpretation and installed in churches. During the Reformation, the earlier pagan meanings surfaced once again, soon thereafter to be channeled into harmless popular festivals, and eventually lost." (168)

Shakespeare's the Temptest:

"This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod" (3.3.1)

Midsummer Night's Dream:

The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud,

And the quaint mazes in the wanton green

For lack of tread are undistinguishable. (2.1.98-100)

These turf mazes find stone parallels in Troy towns, "labyrinthine stone patterns arranged on open fields, many of which are found in Sweden, Finland, Artic Russia, and Germany" (Kern 167).

In spite of their connections to church mazes, the "turf maze" has much stronger pagan roots, likely parts of Spring rites.