The Village is
best known for the Ancient Turf
Maze Julian's Bower
from where you can view (on a clear
day)York Minster in the North. The
maze is located on the Western side
of the village close to the Cliff Edge
is one of only three remaining turf
mazes left in Britain.
The maze is a unicursal turf maze, 43
feet (13 m) across, of indeterminate
age.
Firm
documentary evidence of its existence
only seems to date from 1697 however,
when it was noticed, on his travels,
by the Yorkshire antiquary Abraham de
la Pryme.
According
to Arthur Mee's book Lincolnshire the
maze was cut by monks in the 12th century,
but White's Lincolnshire Directory of
1872 maintains that it was constructed
in Roman times as part of a game. Others
think that while the feature is of Roman
origin, it was later used by the Medieval
Church for some sort of penitential
purposes and only reverted to its former
use as an amusement or diversion, after
the Reformation.
In
case the maze becomes overgrown or otherwise
indistinct, its pattern is recorded,
in a 19th century stained glass church
window, on the floor of the church porch
and also on the gravestone of James
Goulton Constable, which is in Alkborough
cemetery.
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