York Maze Explained

York Maze is a maze constructed from maize located off the B1228 road near Elvington in England.

History

The maze is owned by former farmer Tom Pearce who had the idea to construct a maze after seeing an advert for a "maize maze". Pearce had been looking to diversity after his entire beef herd had to be killed due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Formerly located in Heslington, Pearce was required to vacate the land to make way for the third campus of the University of York. It was at this point that Pearce purchased the area of land where the maze is now sited.^[1] The maze opened at its current location in 2008.^[2]

The maze was originally designed on paper and mapped out using sticks and string. In 2006, Pearce began using GPS to create the maze which made the process easier and allowed for more complex shapes.

Theme

!Year!Theme!Notes

2002	Viking Longship	^[3]
2003	Spiders Web
2004	Flying Scotsman
2005	Big Ben
2006	Star Trek
2007	James Bond
2008	Statue of Liberty
2009	Moon Landing	For the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission^[4]
2010	Spitfire	For the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain
2011	Harry Potter	Contained two portraits of Daniel Radcliffe and was said to be the world's largest spot the difference^[5]
2012	Mayan	Contained an image of Yum Kaax, a Mayan god, for the end of the Mayan calendar^[6]
2013	Doctor Who	For the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who^[7]
2014	Yorkshire Legends	Portraits of Brian Blessed, Jeremy Clarkson, and Geoffrey Boycott^[8]
2015	Thunderbirds Are Go	For the 50th anniversary of Thunderbirds^[9]
2016	Roald Dahl	For the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roald Dahl^[10]
2017	Star Wars	For the 40th anniversary of Star Wars^[11]
2018	Jurassic Maze	For the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park^[12]
2019	Lion King	For the 25th anniversary of the Lion King^[13]
2020	None	No maze^[14]
2021	Mr. Men	For the 50th anniversary of the Mr. Men books^[15]
2022	Lego	With "90 years of play" branding, thought to contain the world's largest minifigure^[16]

References

1. Web site: Clark . Matt . 2011-01-17 . How York Maze's Tom Pearcy found his way . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
2. Web site: Willis . Joe . 2008-07-17 . Farmer unveils Statue of Liberty maze . 2022-07-19 . The Northern Echo . en.
3. Web site: Beech . Richard . 2014-07-12 . Pictures: Maze of maize featuring giant heads of Jeremy Clarkson and Brian Blessed . 2022-07-19 . The Mirror . en.
4. Web site: 2009-07-21 . York maze marks Apollo moon landings 40th anniversary with space theme . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
5. Web site: Liptrot . Kate . 2011-07-12 . York Maze goes Harry Potter crazy . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
6. Web site: Liptrot . Kate . York Maze goes Mayan for latest spectacle . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
7. Web site: Starr . Michelle . 2013-07-14 . Doctor Who celebrates with 18-acre Dalek corn maze . 2022-07-19 . CNET . en.
8. Web site: Ross . Alex . Three Yorkshire icons have become the stars of a summer maze . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
9. Web site: Prest . Victoria . 2015-07-09 . York Maze relaunches with Thunderbirds homage . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
10. Web site: 2016-07-15 . York Maze theme revealed: A phizz-wizzing tribute to Roald Dahl, the size of eight football pitches . 2022-07-19 . The Yorkshire Post . en.
11. Web site: Saker-Clark . Henry . 2017-07-15 . This huge Star Wars maze opens today and it is incredible . 2022-07-19 . HullLive . en.
12. Web site: Laycock . Mike . 2018-07-13 . VIDEO: Dinosaurs on the loose at York's Jurassic Maze . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
13. Web site: Laycock . Mike . 2019-07-12 . York Maze pays tribute to 25th anniversary of The Lion King . 2022-07-19 . York Press . en.
14. Web site: 2020-04-23 . Video: York Maze won’t open this summer – and the boss has a message for its seasonal workers . 2022-07-19 . YorkMix . en-GB.
15. Web site: Jefferson-Brown . Nadia . 2021-06-10 . York Maze reveals their big design for 2021 . 2022-07-19 . Gazette & Herald . en.
16. Web site: Goodkind . Summer . Norris . Phil . 2022-07-15 . Massive UK Lego minifigure maze believed to be world's biggest . 2022-07-19 . HullLive . en.