Troy Town

Name given to many English turf mazes

Many turf mazes in England were named Troy Town, Troy town or variations on that theme (such as Troy, The City of Troy, Troy's Walls, Troy's Hoy, or The Walls of Troy) 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 out. Welsh hilltop turf mazes (none of which now exist) were called "Caerdroia", which can be translated as "City of Troy" (or perhaps "castle of turns"). W. H. Matthews, in his Mazes and Labyrinths (1922), gives the name as "Troy town". More recent writers (such as Adrian Fisher, in The Art of the Maze, 1990) prefer "Troy Town". The name "Troy" has been associated with labyrinths from ancient times. An Etruscan terracotta wine jar from Tragliatella, Italy, shows a seven ring labyrinth marked with the word TRUIA (which may refer to Troy). To its left, two armed soldiers appear to be riding out of the labyrinth on horseback, while on the right two couples are shown copulating. The vase dates from about 630 BC. The ancient Roman equestrian event known as the "Troy Game", which involved riding in maze like patterns, has sometimes been linked to this vase.

Of the eight surviving historic turf mazes in England, three have "Troy" names. "The City of Troy" is a small but well maintained roadside maze near the small villages of Dalby, Brandsby, and Skewsby, not far from Sheriff Hutton in the Howardian Hills of North Yorkshire. "Troy", a beautiful maze in a private garden at Troy Farm, Somerton, Oxfordshire, is rather larger, and "Troy Town" maze on St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, is a small maze of turf and small stones and is reputed to have been laid down in 1729 by the son of a local lighthouse keeper. All three follow the classical labyrinth pattern (as found on coins from ancient Knossos) rather than the medieval variation. It is not known when the first two of these turf mazes were originally constructed; however, the turf was re cut at Dalby in 1900 due to road damage.