THE TURF LABYRINTH

by Sarah Kirkpatrick
Illustrated by Michelle Thompson
www.michelle-thompson.com

The largest surviving turf labyrinth in the world can be found at the east end of The Common in Saffron Walden. As you enter the labyrinth to walk the 1500 metre-long path to the centre you are continuing in a tradition that reaches back to the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and encompasses both Roman mosaic and medieval Christian pavement labyrinths. The Romans developed their own interpretation and symbolism around the labyrinth and these returned again with the medieval Christian labyrinths shown in cathedrals and churches. Once in the centre stay a while and rest before retracing your steps to the outside again.

The best known of the many early legends is that of a labyrinth built at the palace of Knossos on Crete by King Minos and designed by Dedalus, regarded as the venerable father of architects, to house the minotaur. It was to this labyrinth that Theseus came in the annual tribute to King Minos from Athens and with the help of Ariadne, the king’s daughter, Theseus slew the minotaur and escaped the island. Dedalus sought to flee, and by making wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son Icaraus, they made the attempt. But Icarus flew too high; the wax melted in the heat of the sun and he fell to the sea and was drowned. Even so, the classical design of labyrinths found on Cretan coins has been hugely influential throughout the Western world.

The Romans included the story of Theseus and the minotaur in their mosaic pavements and added their own twists. They developed the idea of the labyrinth as representing a fortified city, and embedded within that idea that of the labyrinth as a protection from evil spirits, thus they placed most of their mosaic pavement labyrinths at the entrance to their houses.    
The medieval Christian world took from both the Greek and Roman traditions. In Chartres Cathedral the pavement labyrinths were situated near to the west door, perhaps offering protection against evil spirits.  In doctrinal terms Jesus replaced Theses and the minotaur, the devil, with the journey to the centre and the return representing the path to redemption and resurrection and the Christian triumph over both the devil and death. The labyrinth in Reims Cathedral, laid in about 1280, has a shape that inspired our own labyrinth and an additional link to the Greek myth – placing at its centre and on its four bastions brass portraiture of the architects of the cathedral in homage to their predecessor, the classical architect and father of the labyrinthine form, Dedalus.

The Saffron Walden labyrinth is one of eight ancient turf labyrinths in England; there are another three early ones in Germany. We know that the labyrinth on The Common was re-cut in 1699 at the cost of 15s and a drawing entitled, The Maze at Walden, Sept. 5. 1768, by the antiquarian Richard Gough exists in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Throughout the eighteenth century the
young men of Walden are said to have used the labyrinth for complicated games involving beer, running or walking the path and, perhaps, in competition for the favours of the young women of the town.  The nineteenth century saw careful maintenance of the monument although the ash tree planted in the middle was burnt down in 1823 on Guy Fawkes Night. In 1911 the path was laid with bricks, these being replaced in 1979.

In the dry summer of 1996, archaeologists took to the air and in photographing The Common noted that the labyrinth in its re-cut of 1699 may have been moved from its original position in the centre of open space.  It might just be possible that this mirror image, surviving only as an imprint in the parched grass, could have been a sister labyrinth to that which survives today on the eastern corner. If this is the case, then Saffron Walden would be doubly lucky as the home of two very rare and intriguing historical monuments.