Mizmaze

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The Breamore Miz-Maze in May 2005 Breamore mizmaze composite.jpg
The Breamore Miz-Maze in May 2005

Mizmaze (or Miz-Maze or Miz Maze) is the name given to two of England's eight surviving historic turf mazes, and also to a third, presumably once similar site (at Leigh in Dorset) that is now merely a relic. Of the two which survive, one is at Breamore, Coordinates: 50°58′54″N1°48′00″W / 50.9817°N 1.8001°W / 50.9817; -1.8001 in Hampshire; the other is on top of St Catherine's Hill, overlooking the city of Winchester, Hampshire.

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A mizmaze forms a pattern unlike conventional mazes and is classed as a labyrinth because the path has no junctions or crossings. The pattern appears more like a very long rope, neatly arranged to fill the area.

Breamore Mizmaze

The Breamore Mizmaze, set on a hill close to Breamore House, is a quartered labyrinth similar in design to the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral. It is enclosed by a grove of yew trees; close to it is a Bronze Age barrow or burial mound. The Mizmaze itself is fenced which aids its conservation. In early 2010 a few surrounding trees were felled as water falling from overhanging branches was eroding part of the maze, but the overall character of the setting is unaffected; as it is difficult to date turf mazes, it is in any case possible that there was no woodland when it was created. The turf labyrinth itself is well-maintained. (Location just south of Salisbury, off A338). [1]

St Catherine's Hill

Mizmaze on St Catherine's Hill Mizmaze on St Catherine's Hill - geograph.org.uk - 1363530.jpg
Mizmaze on St Catherine's Hill

The Winchester Mizmaze is most unusual, being roughly square, although its paths curve gently and it has rounded corners. It is also one of only two surviving historic English turf mazes where the path is a narrow groove in the turf (the other is at Saffron Walden, Essex). More commonly the turf itself forms the raised path, which is marked out by shallow channels excavated between its twists and turns; this is the case at Breamore, where the mizmaze is circular (a version of the medieval labyrinth design) and surrounded by trees. (The Winchester mizmaze is visible in Google Earth atop St. Catherine's hill. Google Maps co-ord: 51.045662, -1.311743 (+51° 2' 44.38", -1° 18' 42.27".) [2]

Mount Ephraim Mizmaze

A large modern Mizmaze has been created by garden designer Sarah Morgan at Mount Ephraim, a 9-acre (36,000 m2) garden near Faversham, Kent, England. Although based on a traditional labyrinth design, the layout incorporates some dead-ends, making it a hybrid between a maze and a labyrinth. The pattern of the grass paths is marked out with combinations of tall-growing ornamental grasses and colourful herbaceous perennial plants.

See also

Related Research Articles

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the hero Theseus. Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he built it.

Maze Puzzle game in the form of a complex branching passage

A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead unambiguously through a convoluted layout to a goal. The pathways and walls in a maze are typically fixed, but puzzles in which the walls and paths can change during the game are also categorised as mazes or tour puzzles.

Winchester City in Hampshire, England

Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is 60 miles (97 km) south-west of London and 14 miles (23 km) from Southampton, the closest other city. At the 2011 census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district, which includes towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham, has a population of 116,595. Winchester is the county town of Hampshire and contains the head offices of Hampshire County Council.

River Avon, Hampshire River in the south of England

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<i>Parterre</i> Formal garden feature of symmetrical and level plant beds with gravel paths laid between

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Leigh, Dorset Human settlement in England

Leigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) south-southwest of Sherborne. It is known as the site of a former Miz Maze. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 480.

Caerdroia

A caerdroia is a Welsh turf maze, usually in the sevenfold Cretan labyrinth design. They were created by shepherds on hilltops and were apparently the setting for ritual dances, the nature of which has been lost. At the centre of each caerdroia was a small hillock—in Welsh, twmpath. A gathering for folk dancing in Wales is still called a twmpath dawns. It is a typical labyrinth of Welsh but there is a specimen in Italy to Petrella Tifernina discovered by the historian Mario Ziccardi. This specimen is the only one in the Mediterranean area for now.

Adrian Fisher is a pioneer, inventor, designer and creator of mazes, puzzles, public art, tessellations, tilings, patterns and networks of many kinds. He is responsible for more than 700 mazes in 42 countries since 1979.

Hilton, Cambridgeshire Human settlement in England

Hilton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Hilton lies approximately 11 miles (18 km) north-west of Cambridge. Hilton is situated within Huntingdonshire, which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England. The parish adjoins those of Elsworth, Fenstanton, Hemingford Abbots, Hemingford Grey, Papworth Everard and Papworth St Agnes. The Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene and is a Grade I listed building; it has a peal of six bells. Historically, the village was in Huntingdonshire for over 1,000 years until 1974.

Turf maze

Historically, a turf maze is a labyrinth made by cutting a convoluted path into a level area of short grass, turf or lawn. Some had names such as Mizmaze, Troy Town, The Walls of Troy, Julian's Bower, or Shepherd's Race. This is the type of maze referred to by William Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream when Titania says:

Troy Town

Many turf mazes in England were named Troy Town, Troy-town or variations on that theme presumably because, in popular legend, the walls of the city of Troy were constructed in such a confusing and complex way that any enemy who entered them would be unable to find his way out. Welsh hilltop turf mazes were called "Caerdroia", which can be translated as "City of Troy".

Gilbert Randoll Coate was a British diplomat, maze designer and "labyrinthologist".

Breamore Human settlement in England

Breamore is a village and civil parish near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, England. The parish includes a notable Elizabethan country house, Breamore House, built with an E-shaped ground plan. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary has an Anglo-Saxon rood.

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St. Catherines Hill, Hampshire

St. Catherine's Hill is a 43-hectare (110-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the outskirts of Winchester in Hampshire. It is managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and most of it is an Iron Age hillfort, which is a Scheduled Monument.

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Italian Renaissance garden

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The labyrinth of Versailles

The labyrinth of Versailles was a hedge maze in the Gardens of Versailles with groups of fountains and sculptures depicting Aesop's fables. André Le Nôtre initially planned a maze of unadorned paths in 1665, but in 1669, Charles Perrault advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains, each representing one of the fables of Aesop. The work was carried out between 1672 and 1677. Water jets spurting from the animals mouths were conceived to give the impression of speech between the creatures. There was a plaque with a caption and a quatrain written by the poet Isaac de Benserade next to each fountain. A detailed description of the labyrinth, its fables and sculptures is given in Perrault's Labyrinte de Versailles, illustrated with engravings by Sébastien Leclerc.

Mount Ephraim Gardens

Mount Ephraim Gardens is an Edwardian terraced gardens located at Hernhill, near Faversham, in the English county of Kent.

References

  1. Rutherfurd, Edward (1987). Sarum, Ballantine Books. ISBN   0-8041-0298-8; pp. 428-30. These pages portray how Breamore Mizmaze might have been created and used, say decades after the Norman Conquest in 1066. See Sarum (novel) article.
  2. The official website is https://www.google.com/earth/index.html, where one can begin by downloading the free Google Earth application program. See Google Earth article.

Further reading