Labyrinths and Mazes

 

A hedge is a line of closely spaced shrubs or trees – designed to form a barrier or mark a boundary of an area.  A hedge is also a way of containing a path, or collection of paths that form a maze.  Mazes can be either a single route from start to finish or may offer a convoluted labyrinth of options from a start to end point.   

The definition of labyrinth and a maze indicates that the first has a single path, whereas the second may not necessarily lead to a centre.  However, as the mazes became more popular this term encompassed both single paths and multiple options.

The first recorded labyrinth was in Egypt in the 5^th Century BC, and one of the most famous labyrinths is the Cretan Labyrinth – with the Minotaur at it’s centre.  These of course had brickwork walls.  Most theories on labyrinths involve their use as a form of spiritual journey, or a way to evidence a path towards something – Nordic fishermen walked through labyrinths to ensure safe return, while in Germany young men walked as they approached manhood.  There are no dead ends in a labyrinth.

Mazes may be formed with a variety of boundaries, but most commonly they use hedges.  The earliest evolved from knot gardens and were first constructed during the mid-16^th century.  Early mazes were low and were commonly made of evergreen herbs.  Still keeping the boundaries low, dwarf box was introduced as a hedging material.  Mazes were very popular and hundreds were constructed in Europe between the 16^th and 18^th centuries.  Initially the designs were to provide a unicursal walking path, where the hedges didn’t interrupt the view. 

However, things quickly turned to the use of hedges in creating puzzles, with tall hedges and dead ends.   The Labyrinth of Versailles was built for Louis XIV in 1677 (we didn’t write about this in our Versailles 500 words did we?).   Mazes became popular in private gardens, as a way to entertain and amuse. 

The oldest surviving puzzle maze in the UK is at Hampton Court Palace.  It was built in the late 17^th century.  There were originally two mazes but only one survives today.   The maze, with its high hedges, winding paths and benches allowed places of privacy for courting couples.

Hampton Court Maze is about a third of an acre in size and is planted in a trapezoid shape.  It was originally planted in hornbeam – a hardwood tree from the birch family with elm interstices.    The name hornbeam is derived from the hardness of the wood (like horn).  An interesting choice, given that the hornbeam is deciduous – so in fact the maze would only have been effective as a puzzle during the seasons where leaves were in place, and privacy would not have been an option.   That may be one of the reasons that hornbeam was replaced by yew – an evergreen species.  The denseness of yew also enabled greater screening between the paths and opportunity to prune at any time of year.

PS… (more words)

A further exciting development in maze building was introduced as an exhibition feature at the National Building Museum in Washington DC.   The notion of disorientation was taken to another level by the designers – the maze dipped in from high corners, and the hedging is only just over three feet at it’s centre.   The maze was constructed with corn – I reckon that’s still a hedge though.