When is a maze a labyrinth  or a labyrinth a maze? All too often the two terms are interchanged and misused. I went to visit what is described as Saffron Walden's Turf Maze;  'an unusual variation on the medieval labyrinth pattern' last week.


My understanding is this - to qualify as a Maze the design must have choices in the pathways in its layout.   A Labyrinth on the other hand only ever has one pathway in its design.  So as a paid up pedant through and through, I declare Saffron Walden's turf maze, in fact a turf labyrinth.


Why does this bother me so much? Well, put simply, I see a maze as a place of recreation, a puzzle to solve, an entertainment. This is what they were designed for. To entertain and amuse.  A labyrinth on the other hand  to me signifies a journey. Walking one is a spiritual pursuit. A meditation.   There is one beginning and one end, and along the route you focus on what ever you need to be dealing with.


I have always been struck by how like the appearance of a human brain, the 'classic'  and oldest labyrinth designs appear to be. Is this significant? I don't know, but for me, even looking at a labyrinth makes me think of mindfulness and concentration. To follow the lines around with your eye from their start point, to their inevitable end, you have to really concentrate because it is so easy to lose your way. The labyrinth makes you focus your energy.  Or, this is my belief.


They have been around for thousands of years, since neolithic times, feature in myth and legend, and are evident in church buildings to simple grass features all over Europe and beyond. I think like Stonehenge, perhaps their true intent and significance is lost in this modern World. But even though I don't fully understand their purpose, I am drawn to them.  Lots of labyrinths can also be described using mathematical terms,  unicursal being the most common. This in itself fascinates me, along with Fibonacci numbers and patterns and the The Golden Ratio so often seen in Nature, a Eulerian path can mathematically describe a labyrinth.


The labyrinth I walked last Wednesday in Saffron Walden has a documented history going back  some 500 years, and is a variation on what is commonly refereed to as a Medieval labyrinth. There are several categories of pattern types, mainly relating to their historical conception.  I suspect it was there long before its first recorded restoration in 1699, and there would have been some spiritual significance for its creation. There is ariel photographic evidence to suggest that there was in the past another identical turf labyrinth adjacent the site of the current one. Whether this means it had a twin, or had been relocated isn't clear though.  Already a rare survivor and a scheduled ancient monument, the largest of its kind in public ownership, having a lost twin would make it quite incredible.


It's about 35 metres across, and the narrow brick (once chalk) path takes considerable concentration to walk.  I found myself having to look at my feet most the time, and really honing in on where I was going. Whilst I walked, I concentrated my feelings and emotions, and on things I wished to change in my life. Things that I wanted to improve about myself, the way I did things, and how I reacted to and interpreted things. Things that I wanted to manage and cope with better.


The path is about 1500 metres long, from start to finish. That's  roughly 1 mile in old money, and took me about 20 minutes to walk. That is a considerable time to be so focused, not just on the journey you are making, but on the mindfulness it induces.  When I had finished walking it, I smiled a huge smile, I felt lightened. I felt that some long overdue business had been attended to, and I knew what I was going to do about  the things that had been troubling me.  Not enlightenment maybe, but certainly a renewed sense of purpose and energy to carry on and live my life in a better way.