Some pictures of the labyrinth set out by Fiona Hopes at The Malvern Showground 2003

THE LABYRINTH

The labyrinth is a pattern that is over 3500 years old, and is found, in some form, in every culture around the world.  It may appear as a simple symbol carved into the rock, as with the patterns found in Rocky Valley, near Tintagel in Cornwall, or woven into the design of a basket, laid out on the ground with water-worn stones on the shorelines, built into stone or tiles on the floor of churches and cathedrals, as at Chartres, or simply cut into the living turf, as at Saffron Walden and St Catherine’s Hill near Winchester. There are many stories and fables relating to the labyrinth, changed, adapted and developed over the millennia.  The pattern has been explored, walked, danced, drawn, painted and experienced in many different ways around the world.  But whatever the form of the labyrinth, it has survived unchanged over vast distances and thousands of years, and the experience of it triggers something magical in every person.   There is a new recognition in our society of amusement and amazement, the need for chaos in an ordered and explainable world. The experience of the labyrinth gives a temporary suspension of time and direction, an isolation from the two most important principles by which the world and our life upon it are ruled.

  The purpose of the Labyrinth at the Spring Gardening Show 2003 was to allow people the experience and pleasure, and the opportunity, to walk a classical seven-circuit labyrinth.  The construction was of simple materials, but chosen to be hard wearing and practical, so that the path may be walked without the need to concentrate on the structure, just on the experience of the walk.

  Fiona Hopes BSc FSGD MIHort