Mazes and Labyrinths

This year marks the centenary of Mazes and Labyrinths, A General Account of Their History and Development by W H Matthews, a pioneering study of this fascinating subject.

The author is referenced by the British Library catalogue as William Henry Matthews of Ruislip, Middlesex, and this is the only title attributed to him. The original edition is quite hard to find and its pale blue boards and paper label are often rather battered, but it has been reprinted as a readily-available Dover paperback.

His study was one of the first to draw attention to turf mazes in Britain, which were then little-known and often neglected. These spiralling forms, carved into the grass, are enigmatic in origin and purpose and, though there are several theories, have never been definitively explained. They are also hard to date, though some are certainly at least medieval. They often have curious names, such as Troy Town, Julian's Bower, Maiden's Bower, Shepherd's Race.

I was reminded of the centenary of Matthews' book when I received my copy of this year’s issue of Caerdroia, The Journal of Mazes and Labyrinths edited by Jeff Saward, no. LI. This wonderful, long-running publication (founded 1980) is always full of learned articles in the best amateur antiquarian tradition. Jeff describes Matthews’ book in his editorial as “Ground breaking, if somewhat overlooked, in its day, it remains a constant and charming source of reference”. 

There is an affectionate and informative memoir of Matthews by his daughter Zeta Eastes at the Caerdroia Archive. He was a musician, botanist, Great War volunteer, cyclist and Board of Trade civil servant, who researched his mazes book in the British Museum reading room but also made field trips to notable mazes. His daughter recalls him drawing mazes in the sand for her at the seaside.

I discovered an early issue of Caerdroia in my youthful antiquarian wanderings in the early 1980s, at the Gothic Image bookshop in Glastonbury, along with an array of other alluring magazines covering Druidism, paganism, landscape mysteries, ancient sacred sites, the Arthurian legends and much else. Jeff had also produced Caer Sidi, one of the first modern descriptive checklists of turf mazes in Britain.

Inspired by his work, I at once set out (with my colleague G J Cooling) for a nearby example, the Miz-maze at Breamore, Hants, bowered in a wooded hilltop in private grounds but reachable by a public footpath. It was certainly a lonely, strange place.

However, the expedition was made the more thrilling when a helicopter hovered while we were contemplating the maze, as if observing our presence. Below a woman's voice called stridently for her dog, Bruno. It felt like a scene from The Avengers or The Prisoner. Were we intruders at some secret parapsychology installation? I half-expected the miz-maze to revolve into the earth and black-tunicked villains to disgorge.

Rosemary Pardoe's The Ghosts & Scholars Book of Mazes (Sarob, 2020) is a recent notable anthology of short stories on the theme. There may well be lost turf maze sites still to be discovered, using detailed place-name evidence or possibly local traditions: I came across one by chance a while ago in a church guide.

(Mark Valentine)

The Friends of Arthur Machen, London '23

March 2023 marks Arthur Machen’s 160th birthday as well as the 25th anniversary of the founding of The Friends of Arthur Machen.

The society will be marking these occasions by returning to London for its AGM and Annual Dinner.

The venue will be the Portland Suite at the Fitzrovia Hotel, 20-28 Bolsover Street, London W1W 5NB. The hotel is in central London, has accommodation, a lounge bar, and lifts for access. It is near Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street Underground stations.

It is hoped there may be related Machen activities over the weekend, and no doubt some hardy souls will investigate for research purposes the various pubs he frequented.

As well as existing members, new members and guests of members are welcome. Please follow link or see poster above for details.

The Centenary of 'Pender Among the Residents'

This month marks the centenary of the publication of Forrest Reid’s Pender Among the Residents (1922), a haunted house story set in the small seaside town of Ballycastle, Co.Antrim, N. Ireland, a favourite resort of the author. He set scenes from some of his other books there too.

The titular character, Rex Pender, was based, in his rather dreamy manner, upon Reid’s friend Walter de la Mare. However, his circumstances are different: he is a wounded WWI veteran who has inherited his grandfather’s house in the town.  

Reid acknowledged the novel was ‘a composite tale’, partly ‘a village chronicle intended to be light and amusing’, and partly ‘a rather conventional ghost story’. There is thus a double meaning to the ‘residents’ of the title, who are both the local people his protagonist must get to know and the psychic inhabitants of the house. As often with Reid, the character-drawing is picturesque and convincing, with a particular eye for the foibles that make individuals distinctive.

Pender is researching his family history and becomes absorbed in old portraits and letters. This brings him into contact with an ancient tragedy, and as he looks into this, and pieces together the story, he finds it exerting a disturbing influence upon him.

The novel, in its leisurely style, has a late Victorian, Henry Jamesian pace and poise: Reid was an admirer of James and dedicated his first novel, The Kingdom of Twilight (1904), to him, much to James’ embarrassment.

In Pender Among the Residents, the little town and its society, as well as its seaside atmosphere, are carefully evoked. The rather steady, studied style has not made it a favourite among either Reid enthusiasts or connoisseurs of the ghost story, but it has subtle, observant qualities that make it a worthwhile contribution to the difficult art of full-length supernatural fiction, and I wonder whether it may be under-appreciated.  

(Mark Valentine)