Julian's Bower or Julian Bower is a name which was given to turf maze

Turf maze

Historically, a turf maze is a labyrinth made by cutting a convoluted path into a level area of short grass, turf or lawn. Some had names such as Mizmaze, Troy Town, The Walls of Troy, Julian's Bower, or Shepherd's Race...

s in several different parts of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Only one of this name still exists, at Alkborough in North Lincolnshire

North Lincolnshire

North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of Lincolnshire....

. It has also been known by corrupted forms of the name, such as "Gillian's Bore" and "Gilling Bore".

The 18th century antiquary William Stukeley

William Stukeley

William Stukeley FRS, FRCP, FSA was an English antiquarian who pioneered the archaeological investigation of the prehistoric monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury, work for which he has been remembered as "probably... the most important of the early forerunners of the discipline of archaeology"...

 mentions a "Julian Bower" turf maze at Horncastle, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, and in nearby Louth

Louth, Lincolnshire

Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...

 there was a "Gelyan Bower", which was mentioned in accounts of 1554.

At Goathland

Goathland

Goathland is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. It is in the North York Moors national park situated due north of Pickering, off the A169 to Whitby...

, North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

 there was a "July Park" or "St Julian's" maze.

At Whinfell Forest

Whinfell Forest

Whinfell Forest is now a small area of woodland in the parish of Brougham, Cumbria that lies south east of Penrith in Cumbria and just off the A66 road leading to Appleby-in-Westmorland. The forest is a short distance from the Lake District national park and is surrounded by a large number of...

 there is a farm called Julian Bower, originally built to support the Keeper. It now lies outside the forest boundary.

Some English turf mazes are very similar in their layout to Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n labyrinth

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...

s, which usually have their paths marked with stones. At Grothornet, in Vartdal

Vartdal

Vartdal is a former municipality in the current municipality of Ørsta in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The administrative centre was the village Sætre, which is also called Vartdal. The former municipality encompassed the northwestern part of present-day Ørsta, along the Vartdalsfjorden,...

 in the Sunnmore Province of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 there is a stone-lined labyrinth called "Den Julianske Borg" ("Julian's Castle").

The name is believed to be derived from Julius, son of Aeneas

Aeneas

Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...

 of Troy

Troy

Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

, and the word place-name element burgh, meaning "a fortified place", "fort" or "castle". The reasoning behind this etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 is based on the fact that many maze

Maze

A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...

s and labyrinths in Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 were called "Troy", "Troy Town

Troy Town

Many turf mazes in England were named Troy Town, Troy-town or variations on that theme presumably because, in popular legend, the walls of the city of Troy were constructed in such a confusing and complex way that any enemy who entered them would be unable to find his way...

" or "The Walls of Troy"; similar names, such as "Trojaburg", "Trojburg" or "Trelleborg", were used in Scandinavia. In popular legend, the walls of the city of Troy were constructed in such a complex and confusing way that any enemy who entered them would be unable to find his way out.

On a clear day, Emley Moor TV tower (40 miles), the top of York Minster and the Kilburn White Horse (45 miles) can be seen from Julian's Bower.

External links

• W.H.Matthews, Mazes and Labyrinths (1922) online version
• Labyrinthos Jeff Saward's website
• Labyrinth Society
• The Megalithic Portal
• Labyrinth Locator (Veriditas & Labyrinth Society)