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Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles
The legendary Rosamund's Bower was located in Woodstock Park, NNW of Oxford, and its purported site is marked by a well and fountain. It was some sort of maze to conceal Rosamund (de) Clifford, the mistress of Henry II (1133 1189), from the Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Legend says that about 1176, Eleanor managed to solve the maze and confronted Rosamund with the choice of a dagger or poison - she drank the poison and Henry never smiled again. [1]. Historically, Henry had imprisoned Eleanor for fomenting rebellion by her sons and Rosamund was his acknowledged mistress. Rosamund probably spent her last days at a nunnery in Godstow, near Oxford [2], though [3] says she was brought back here for burial after a mysterious death. The legend of the bower dates from the fourteenth century and her murder is a later addition [4]. In the nineteenth century, there were many occurrences of a maze called Rosamund's Bower.
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Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey, is said to have lived in a house on the site of Chaucer's House, Park Street, Woodstock. The poet is said to have stayed here at various times. [5]
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Blenheim Palace, at Woodstock, is the seat of the Churchills, Dukes of Marlborough, and Winston Churchill was born in a cloakroom here when he arrived a bit early during a ball. In the grounds is the Marlborough Maze, designed by Randall Coate and Adrian Fisher in 1991 and claimed to be the world's largest symbolic hedge maze [6]; [7].
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Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey, is said to have lived in a house on the site of Chaucer's House, Park Street, Woodstock. The poet is said to have stayed here at various times. [5]
See THIS LINK
Blenheim Palace, at Woodstock, is the seat of the Churchills, Dukes of Marlborough, and Winston Churchill was born in a cloakroom here when he arrived a bit early during a ball. In the grounds is the Marlborough Maze, designed by Randall Coate and Adrian Fisher in 1991 and claimed to be the world's largest symbolic hedge maze [6]; [7].
See THIS LINK
References (show)
- Fisher, Adrian. The Art of the Maze. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1990. p.105
- Headlam, Cecil. The Story of Oxford. Ill. by Herbert Railton. The Mediaeval Towns Series, Dent, London, (1907), revised, 1926. p.62
- Sharp, David. The Thames Path, Aurum Press, London, corrected reprint, 1997, p.60
- Collins, A. Frederick. The Book of Puzzles, Appleton, NY, 1927, p.121
- Eastman, John. Who Lived Where in Europe: A Biographical Guide to Homes and Museums. Facts on File, NY, 1985. p.191
- Fisher, Adrian. The Art of the Maze. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1990, pp.105, 152-153, with colour photos on p.104; Palace leaflet
- Palace leaflet
The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles was created by David Singmaster.
The original site is at THIS LINK.
The original site is at THIS LINK.