Turf Maze - Maze Names

Maze Names

Several English turf mazes were called "Troy", "Troy Town" or "The Walls of Troy". In Wales, where the patterns were cut into the turf of hilltops by shepherds, they were known as "Caerdroia" (unfortunately, no historic Welsh examples survive). "Caer" means wall, rampart, castle, fort, fortress, fastness or city, and the name has been translated as "City of Troy" (or possibly "castle of turns" ). In popular legend, the walls of the city of Troy were constructed in such a complex way that any enemy who entered them would be unable to find their way out. Other common maze names such as "Julian's Bower" and "St Julian's" (and corrupted versions of these) could be derived from Julius, son of Aeneas of Troy, and the word burgh, a place-name element which, like "caer", means a fortified place.

The Troy connection is also found in the names of Scandinavian stone-lined mazes of the classical labyrinth pattern: for instance, Trojaburg near Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. In Denmark, which once had dozens of turf mazes, the name "Trojborg" or "Trelleborg" was commonly used: no historic examples survive but replicas have been made. At Grothornet, in Vartdal in the Sunnmore Province of Norway there is a stone-lined labyrinth called "Den Julianske Borg" ("Julian's castle").

Some German turf maze names suggest a link with Sweden: "Schwedenhieb" (Swede's cut), "Schwedenhugel" (Swede's hill), "Schwedenring" (Swede's ring), "Schwedengang" (Swede's path). Popular legend links them with the burial places of Swedish officers during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) but they are also widely believed to be much older.

At Stolp, in Pomerania, Poland, the "Windelbahn" ("coil-track"), a processional turf labyrinth, was used by the Shoemakers' Guild. The original was destroyed; a copy was made in 1935.