Saffron Walden Mazes

A set of different mazes in this market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England.

Turf Maze
The largest example of its type in the world and is one of the eight surviving turf mazes in England. Its design is basically circular with 17 circuits. Four bastions at equal distances around the circumference give the maze a total diameter of 132 feet. It is enclosed by a bank and ditch, the overall dimensions of which are 150 x 110 feet. The pathway follows grooves cut in the turf and approaches a mile in length.

Restorations of the maze are recorded for 1826, 1841, 1859, 1887 and 1911, when the pathway was laid with bricks on edge. The most recent recutting was completed in 1979.

Hedge Maze
Victorian garden at Bridge End commenced in the late 18th Century and was completed in the mid–19th Century. The Garden was started by Atkinson Francis Gibson of Saffron Walden and continued by his son Francis.

The site was cleared in February 1984 and then surveyed. The original maze design was marked out later that year. The paths were reconstructed, together with the banks which were subsequently planted in the December with over 1000 yews. At midday on 13th July 1991, the maze was officially reopened by Mr. Anthony Fry, great-great grandson of Francis Gibson.

Jubilee Garden Maze
This maze is made out of contrasting paving blocks laid over the existing concrete slab, which will permit its continued use for music performances and art exhibitions.
Using the 100x200mm module of a standard sand-bedded block, the local designer, John Ready, was able to devise a labyrinth of nine turns within the overall width of 6.1 metres, which winds towards and around the centre, before moving outwards again to finish adjacent to the starting point. The overall length of the path is over 100 yards and its various turns reveal attractive views over the garden, with the soaring spire of St Mary’s Church beyond. The central octagon of the maze is decorated with a sleeping hare of semi-abstract design.

The town’s most recent open-air maze was opened in August 2016 by world expert Jeff Saward to mark the beginning of the third Saffron Walden Maze Festival and, appropriately for a gateway to the town’s historic attractions, its internal layout announces that ‘Saffron Walden Amazes’.

Swan Meadow Maze
The town’s most recent open-air maze was opened in August 2016 by world expert Jeff Saward to mark the beginning of the third Saffron Walden Maze Festival and, appropriately for a gateway to the town’s historic attractions, its internal layout announces that ‘Saffron Walden Amazes’.

Miniature finger labyrinths and mazes are set into the tops of pre-cast planters featuring a Greek key design and provide the opportunity of added interaction for young children as they move around the turns of the maze’s pathways.

Michael Ayrton’s Sun Maze Sculpture
Michael Ayrton the sculptor, broadcaster and writer, whose work can be seen at The Fry Art Gallery, lived near Saffron Walden and is buried at Hadstock. He visited Greece in 1958 and became pre-occupied with the legends of Daedalus and Icarus and the imagery based around the Minotaur and the maze. ‘Such a total maze each man makes round himself and each is different from any other,’ Michael Ayrton, 1967.