MAZE MONTH reaches its conclusion with the discussion of hedge mazes from the days of yore! Be sure to check out the previous four blog posts covering the overall history of mazes and labyrinths (links below). In between the historical blogs, MAZE MONTH has included eight posts spotlighting the surviving...
MAZE MONTH has so far focused on proper unicursal labyrinths rather than actual multicursal mazes. I’ve used a great deal of blog space covering turf-created labyrinths, despite knowing the instant vision of “garden maze” brings tall hedges to mind. In my defense, factually tracing the evolution of mazes required those...
Dating as far back as the 16th century, and probably far older, the eye bath or eye wash cup was the standard object used to clean the eye until the eyedropper was invented. Most commonly made of inexpensive glass, eye bath cups were also fashioned from porcelain, silver, and later...
High on the top of a hill, with views stretching far over the hills and fields of Hampshire and Wiltshire, is the Breamore Mizmaze. Located about ten-miles south of Salisbury, the small village of Breamore is the site of numerous Iron Age and Roman ruins. A priory of Augustinian Canons...
Perilous Pond was an ancient pond fed by a spring, first mentioned in 1598. Located near the junction of modern-day Old Street and City Road, it earned its name due to the many tragic drownings of people using it as a swimming hole. In 1743 the land was purchased by...
The best-surviving turf maze is on the village green beside Glaston Road on the edge of the picturesque village of Wing in the East Midlands county of Rutland. This particular example does not have a designated name. If it ever had a specific name, there are no records or legends...
The turf labyrinth at Saffron Walden, in the county of Essex, is one of the best-known and well maintained historic turf labyrinths in Europe, and it is also the largest surviving example. It is located at the east end of a large open area known as the Common adjacent to...
In November 2021 I wrote a series of blogs on my favorite novels, both in the broad Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre and in general literature. Links to those posts are in the Pemberley Library, down the page a bit under “Cinema & Literature” and the submenu “Books and Music.” One of the...
This unusual turf maze is located in a garden at Troy Farm Bed and Breakfast, a privately owned dwelling about one-mile east of the village of Somerton in Oxfordshire and 16-miles from Oxford. Troy Town Maze is in an atmospheric setting hidden among trees and close to an ancient pre-Roman...
For the month of March, I have two Fashion Plates from magazines of the Regency Era. As always, the descriptions are from the magazine itself and from contemporary commentaries, if available. Opera Dress from March 1809— Fashion plate; hand-colored aquatint from Rudolph Ackermann’s “Repository of Arts,” Series 1, Vol. I,...
The turf mizmaze located at Alkborough in Lincolnshire is the lone remaining labyrinth in England bearing the ancient name Julian’s Bower. It is situated in a sunken depression atop a hillside overlooking the confluence of the River Humber with the rivers Ouse and Trent. Below the maze stretches the Alkborough...
St. Catherine’s Hill, located south of the ancient city of Winchester, was the site of an Iron Age fort first built some 2,500 years ago. Winchester itself is one of the most important cities in Roman Britain, being the seat of Norman Kings and the heart of King Alfred’s Wessex....
The primitive Crusie Lamp was popular in the 1600’s to 1700’s, and still widely used into the 19th century by poor households. A simple lamp, the Crusie is basically a formed metal bowl to hold fuel (oil) with an indentation or channel to hold a wick. This was a durable...
On the eastern edge of Hilton village in Cambridgeshire is a green space upon which is cut a turf maze measuring 53 feet diameter. Of the eight labyrinths of old existing in England, the one in Hilton has some unique features. Unlike the other turf mizmazes which have unknown origins...
The Miseries of Human Life is a book written by James Beresford (1764–1840) and published in 1806, first as a single volume and then as an expanded two-volume edition later that year. Illustrated by George Cruikshank, it catalogued “in excruciating detail” the “petty outrages, minor humiliations, and tiny discomforts that...
