Atomic Shrimp - St Catherine's Hill Mizmaze

St Catherine's Hill Mizmaze

Visiting The Mizmaze

There is a small car park here - with additional parking along the roadside approaching it. The hilltop may be accessed by walking downstream along the river, then turning left through the gate just before the weir.

Alternatively, on the opposite side of the car park from the river, there is a small tunnel under the old railway track - the path through here goes directly (well, sort of) up to the Mizmaze.

Plague Pits

Also on this site, directly to the south of St Catherine's Hill, there is a dry valley marked on the map as 'plague pits' - this is the site of a massed grave for victims of the Black Death (Bubonic Plague pandemic in the 14th Century). However, there is no monument or anything else above ground to be seen.

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Atop St Catherine's Hill near the ancient and historic city of Winchester is a turf maze known as the Miz Maze (or Mizmaze or Mis-maze). It's at least a couple of centuries old, but its true origins are unclear...

Location

St Catherine's Hill is topped by a perfectly circular wood of tall, old beech trees fringed with other deciduous species, - mostly Elder and Hawthorn - the Mizmaze is found immediately adjacent to the wood, on the northwest side (see map below).

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From Ground Level

The maze is approximately 30 metres across, making it almost impossible to photograph in its entirety, at least from the ground - and on approaching from any direction, its nature isn't always immediately apparent.

Layout And Construction

The maze consists of a narrow groove cut into the turf, exposing the underlying chalk in places, forming a single, unbranched path that repeatedly loops back on and around itself within a square boundary.

So it's not a maze in the popular sense that you have to discover the correct path to the centre, but rather, it's a labyrinth that just makes you take a very roundabout route to get there.

The path is narrow to the extent of being uncomfortable to walk - only about one shoe-width in most places, making it necessary to place one foot quite carefully and unnaturally right in front of the other as you walk.

Origins

There are a number of competing stories regarding the origin of the Mizmaze - notably:

That it was a devotional construct or symbolic pilgrimmage, connected with the Medieval chapel of St Catherine, which was situated in what is now the middle of the hilltop wood
That it is connected with the Iron Age hill fort on the hill top
That it was constructed by one or more pupils of Winchester College

The last of these seems the most plausible - the earliest written reference to the Mizmaze is a plan dated 1710, signed by J Nowell - a name which appears in the college records about the same date.

The actual details of the construction are obscure and mythical however - local legend holds that its construction was part of the boy's punishment for some misdemeanour (another part of his punisment was to be chained to a tree by the river bank). It is said that in his misery, he pined away and died, or that he drowned himself in the river.

The maze has been tended and recut several times in recorded history - this is not unusual for chalk hill figures of any kind.

Comments: 1 (Add)

I was born and bred in winchester and the story went that it was a young lad from the college who made it after being accused of cheating in his exams. The story went that after its competion he hung himself from a nearby tree. Sad tale for a beautiful place
(Love your site by the way)

Posted by miranda penn on Oct 7 2010 at 15:07

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