For lack of tread are indistinguishable.”
Some twenty of these rustic labyrinths have been noted as still existing, or as recorded by a sound tradition, in England; and no doubt there have been others which have disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
MAZE AT ALKBOROUGH, LINCOLNSHIRE.
Among those which have been preserved, the following may be noticed. At Alkborough, in [p 194] 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 [p 195] 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 [p 196] 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.
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.
