424 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1910 



Alkborough, Lincolnshire, 60 feet in 

 diameter 



Maze at Prinfern, near Blandford, Dorset- 

 shire, now destroyed 



Maze at Boughton Green, Northampton- 

 shire, 37 feet in diameter 



Steps or methods to lose or perplex the rambler in his 

 entering, whereas in some of the mazes there are twenty. 

 The importance of Hampton Court naturally increases the 

 interest in its maze. This garden labyrinth belongs to the 

 Palace; it occupies 

 one-quarter of an 

 acre of ground and 

 is one of the most 

 beautiful in Eng- 

 land. Its age is 

 known from the 

 fact that it was 

 constructed early in 

 the reign of Will- 

 iam III. The walks 

 or alleys are about 

 one-half mile in 

 length. In time the 

 vogue of the maze 

 began to wane, just 

 as the hedge has 

 been lost to the 

 alleys through age 

 and neglect. An 

 authority states, 

 that original plant- 

 ings die out and 

 are replaced, s o 

 that the vegetation 



is mixed by hollies, yews, hornbeam, etc. The maze at 

 Hatfield House, which we also illustrate, shows the 

 principle of the maze, the idea being to bewilder the 

 would-be stroller. The maze was usually constructed, as 

 in this instance, so that the actions of those in the maze 



The maze, Trinity College, Oxford. From an old print 



would amuse the people on the terrace. The construction 

 of the maze is one of the most agreeable that remains. 

 Indeed the essential feature of the maze outside of the 

 emblematical and the legendary, is to construct a network 



of hedge-ways at a 

 certain height which 

 bewilders seekers of 

 its center, and which 

 is equally confus- 

 ing to them in nego- 

 tiating its exit. This 

 intention is shown 

 by its introduction 

 into pleasure re- 

 sorts, where the 

 younger visitors are 

 amused and apt to 

 be confounded. 

 Generally in the 

 center there is a 

 fountain, a statue, 

 or small trees. 



The labyrinth at 

 Theobald's Park, 

 near Chesthunt, 

 i n Hertfortshire, 

 shows an entirely 

 rectilinear form, 

 which is not ap- 

 proached in any way by the numerous designs presented 

 in this article. The nearest in type is that of the Mize 

 maze, at St. Catherine's Hill. The Theobald maze is very 

 old, as it was in the Park when it passed into the posses- 

 sion of James I. The octagonal form of the labyrinth adds 



u 



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Maze at Theobalds, Hertfortshire 



Saffron Walden, Essex, 1 1 feet in 

 diameter 



The Mize maze, St. Catherine's Hill, Win- 

 chester, 86 feet in diameter 



