Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

New Maze Owes Design to Saffron Walden

A new maze has been created at Seaton in South Devon, based on the design of the famous maze at Saffron Walden in historic Essex.

The site was chosen because of its splendid position overlooking Seaton Bay and Beer Cliffs. Seaton is part of what is generally known as the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage site along the Devon and Dorset shoreline including the splendid town of Lyme Regis.

The maze celebrates Seaton’s Millennium, a thousand years of recorded history.

Mazes were once more common than they are today. Pre-Christian in origin, they were taken over by the church in mediaeval times and used as penance. Crawling on hands and knees to the centre could take one a considerable distance.

The maze at Saffron Walden, on the common, is probably the best-known in England. There is another at Wing in Rutland, not far from Oakham, the county town.