By the Rev. A. D. Hiil. 101 
number of them, and a date probably of the fourteenth or fifteenth 
centuries. Some member of the community had, perhaps, been 
familiar with the chemins de Jerusalem abroad, and imitated them, 
with no little mathematical skill and accuracy, on the downs or 
commons around his English home, for devotions or penances, or 
even the innocent recreation of his brethren. 
In the instance before us we have a corroboration of this theory 
of the ecclesiastical origin of the turf-labyrinth. The maze is 
situated at the extreme edge of the downs, where they are bordered 
by the Breamore woods, and is just within the boundaries of the 
parish and lands formerly belonging to the Benedictine Priory of 
Breamore, founded by Baldwin de Redvers in the reign of Henry I. 
The priory was in connection with the Abbey of Reading, and 
contained a prior and nine canons at the time of its dissolution. 
At the foot of the knoll, across the ditch and bank previously 
noticed, the commencement of an ancient track is marked by the 
remains of a yew avenue. It points southwards through the wood 
in the direction of the Church, little over a mile away, and of the 
site of the priory on the right bank of the Avon, and indicates a 
road by which its occupants might gain ca to their labyrinth 
within the limits of an easy walk. 
The mizmaze has probably been renewed at some comparatively 
recent date, as the pathway is distinctly marked and the area free 
from brushwood. Doubtless many similar relics, as well as another 
class of turf-circles made for the recreations of the country folk 
have disappeared beneath the plough, and from natural causes. In 
a few instances, however, local interest has attached a value to them, 
as in the case of a square labyrinth near the site of an ancient 
chapel on St. Catherine’s Hill, Winchester, dear to Wykehamists, 
which has twice been renewed during the present century by the 
authorities of Winchester College ; and a circular maze at Asenby, 
Yorkshire, which was, and is, I hope, still preserved at the expense 
of the parish of Topcliffe, in which it is situated. The wider 
interest taken in archeology at the present day, and a right 
understanding of the historical relics around us, will tend to their 
better preservation for the future. 
