Vanishing Labyrinths of the Isles of Scilly : Example
Join us in wandering the mazey paths of Scilly’s mysterious labyrinth heritage. At each curious turn, you’ll encounter imaginative creativity to enchant and inspire. Our project design includes creative outputs from within the sphere of our previous experience, to offer Island audiences the best of our artistic skillset. These will be combined with ambitious new areas of challenge by partnering with experienced specialist practitioners and organisations whose expertise will facilitate a step-change in what’s possible - both for us and for Scilly’s community - and thereby ensuring ACE funds are used in the best possible service for all who live on and visit Scilly.
The stone-and-turf labyrinth at Giant’s Castle, St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly - currently very overgrown and at risk of being lost entirely.
What Will it Look Like? Folk Heritage Restoration: Giant’s Castle Maze
Photogrammetry scan of overgrown Giant’s Castle Labyrinth, 2024.
Giant’s Castle Maze is a labyrinth of obscure origin and unknown date. First accounts of these stone-and-turf coils encircling a central quartz crystal on the St Mary’s coast path emerge around 1950. Not quite natural, not wholly human, it is an esoteric piece of folk-history that has been transformed and distorted over time: shaped by wind and coastal spray, the slow growth of heather, and generations of island feet. In recent years its twisting paths have meandered too far, drifting so deeply into mazey confusion – teetering on the edge of the known – that their pattern is in danger of being entirely lost. Our project will begin by partnering with: Scilly’s premier archaeologist; experienced ecologists and wildlife conservationists; a digital surveyor and technologist; and expert dowsers, to survey this unique site - considering artistic, archaeological, ecological and mythological perspectives, to inform a community-led restoration of Giant’s Castle Maze.
Drawing of Giant’s Castle Labyrinth by labyrinth scholar Jeff Saward, 1990.
“The Giant’s Castle stone maze always seemed to be a somewhat overlooked little example that gets far less attention than the more famous St Agnes and St Martins mazes… It is the nature of those stone mazes that they will morph a bit over the years, and that’s part of their history.”
What Will it Look Like? Scilly’s Vanishing Labyrinths…
Sites of seafaring superstition, fairy lore, pilgrimage and folk art – stories associated with the labyrinths are also vulnerable to erosion, slipping out of memory and needing our care. Alongside the Giant’s Castle restoration, our project will illuminate the uniqueness and importance of these strange island symbols by encouraging engagement with their histories, purpose and meanings.
Research by Scilly Arts and Heritage has established that “visitors and residents have limited awareness of the significance of some of Scilly’s archaeological heritage,” and nowhere is this more evident than its labyrinths. Labyrinth history in Scilly stretches back for at least three-hundred years (stories say that Troy Town Maze was built by Amor Clark – son of a St Agnes’s lighthouse keeper – in 1729) if not over a thousand years (a 1988 restoration of Troy Town Maze revealed another, older labyrinth under the current design, bearing similarities to surviving Viking labyrinths in Scandinavia) but the lack of easily accessible knowledge about the labyrinths means their importance is often overlooked. Despite its status as a scheduled monument, Troy Town Maze is often unintentionally vandalised by visitors taking or painting stones, who are unaware of its age or significance. Our project will raise the labyrinths’ profile across the islands, safeguarding them from further damage and neglect and preserving this heritage for future generations of islanders.
“I like the ‘spiritual’ experience of a Labyrinth, there is one route to the centre and back again. As you travel through you experience happenings, thoughts, challenges etc, you reach the centre and you travel back feeling renewed, refreshed, changed, ready. We visit Troy Town maze every two years, as some sort of family pilgrimage spending sometimes over an hour, running around the maze. There is something special I find in something un-changing, whilst we as a family do.”
What Will it Sound Like? Working with Children and Centring their Voices…
As part of our preliminary research, we have had conversations with primary and secondary schoolchildren at Five Islands Academy to hear their memories of the labyrinths and their ideas about who built them, when, and for what purpose. In response to the Academy’s request to create an outside space for children reserved for calm contemplation, we have worked with teachers to paint replicas of some of Scilly’s labyrinths on a quiet area of the playground, and children have responded by gifting us their own labyrinth drawings in return.
Stakeholder consultation has identified that “projects that combine heritage, art and science create multiple learning opportunities.” Our project will explore this by expanding our partnership with Five Islands Academy, developing to include two workshops linking with the curriculum topic of “myths and legends” by exploring labyrinths and movement. These will include tracing children’s movements from overhead to draw new labyrinth designs, and using wind harps to connect labyrinth lore with the Cornish tradition of weather magic by making music from the wind. When consulted on what kind of art and culture they wanted for the islands, children sited the importance of “local voices and stories - to capture stories from living memory for the future when it is not living memory any more, to use as human artefacts,” so we will address this request by combining the children’s recollections of the labyrinths with those of elder Scillonians.
“Don’t know who built it out by Giant’s Castle but it’s been there ever since I can remember. Years ago there used to be an air force base there - they could have made it?”
Previous Work from us and our Collaborators: Linking Art, Myth & Archeology
Folklorist, digital artist and archaeological surveyor, Tom Goskar specialises in 3D scanning and technological survey techniques which can be rendered creatively to present historic and geographical information to audiences in new and engaging ways. Tom will create photogrammetry and LiDAR scans of Giant’s Castle Maze to glean previously unknown insights into the site’s makeup and history, shedding new light on Scilly’s mythic landscape. Concurrently, dowsers from Cornwall based group Tamar Dowsers will also dowse the labyrinth site, creating an energy map of the area and advising on the best energetic layout of the maze. Volunteers from the Isles of Scilly Community Archaeology Group meet regularly to care for Scilly’s ancient sites. Together with rangers from the Wildlife Trust, they will partner with us to clear and restore Giant’s Castle Maze, informed by the decisions reached in the community consultation, and supervised by the Wildlife Trust’s archaeological advisor, Dr Katharine Sawyer. To supplement our creative practice, Layan and Teän recently trained in traditional archaeological survey techniques on a volunteer project - Porths and Gigs - which documented Scilly’s pilot gig heritage. We are interested in combining these methodologies creatively - dowsing, scanning, care of ancient site and traditional surveying - to map the Giant’s Castle Maze, bridging the gaps between art, science, magic and archaeology to restore an important site for islanders.
Line one: 3D scans of Cornish ancient monuments by artists, technologist and archaeologist Tom Goskar. Line two: learning traditional survey techniques to survey Scilly’s landscape creatively. Line three: Tamar Dowsers dowsing Cornwall’s ancient sites, and the Isles of Scilly Community Archaeology Group clearing vegetation from an ancient site on Scilly.
“Maintaining an outstanding and world-class environment and ensuring that its distinctive and significant seascape and landscape, heritage and conservation assets are protected, valued and enhanced.”
Our Previous Work to inform New Original Artworks…
Alongside the restoration of Giant’s Castle Maze, we will create high-quality original artworks informed by: our experiences of the survey and restoration processes, archival research from Scilly’s museum archive and Kresen Kernow in Cornwall, and our conversations with the community about Scilly’s labyrinths and their associated stories. These outputs will span a range of media - from costume and performance to photography and installation. Performance and costume elements will be showcased at the labyrinth events, festival and celebration and the visual work will be included in the exhibition to conclude the project, alongside our research and documentation of the restoration. These creative responses to the source material will provide imaginative and engaging ways for our audiences to engage with the labyrinth history and heritage. Potential avenues to explore include: survey as spectacle; labyrinths as portals; tensions between material science (archaeological survey) and esoteric knowing (dowsers); and mariners’ methods of weather control. Below are some examples of our previous relevant work:
Line one: The Apionaut, costume and performance by Layan Harman inspired by astronauts, bee-keeping and medieval mysticism; photographed by Teän Roberts. Line two: Unverified Personal Gnosis, costumes, film and performances by Layan Harman and Teän Roberts, responding to the legends of the Welsh mountain Cadir Idris. Line three: The Lost Branch of the Mabinogi, costumes, photography text and film by Teän Roberts reimagining characters from The Mabinogion, Wales’ oldest prose text.
“Place is the twist you can’t iron out of the fabric of things”
Previous Work from our Collaborators to inform the Festival and Celebration…
Research undertaken for the new museum showed that: “taking part in or attending music events (67%),” “attending heritage-themed talks (62%)” and “taking part in, or attending festivals (68%)” were rated highly by surveyed visitors and islanders. To further engage our community with the labyrinth project, we will hold a free, one-day festival at the Old Town Inn to celebrate the completion of the Giant’s Castle Maze. This will be a fully inclusive, family friendly event with music, talks and performance from acclaimed folk musicians and artists, with traditional participatory Cornish labyrinth dances for the audience. The high “value of hard-copy of leaflets” has been identified for visitors, so we will circulate information about the creative restoration project in a free pamphlet/zine. During the festival, anyone who feels comfortable with the accessibility requirements will also be invited to join us in a procession to Giant’s Castle Maze the following day, where we will hold a small celebration on the coast path site to “reopen” the restored labyrinth, with further folk music and dancing, on a scale more appropriate to this coastal location. We will bring the below folk artists over from the mainland, bringing a magical and folkloric energy appropriate to the occasion:
Line one: Daisy Rickman, critically-acclaimed musician and artist from Mousehole. Line two: artists and event-hosts Lally Macbeth and Matthew Shaw - aka Stone Club - who are giving new life to prehistory. Line three: Goblin Band, folk group from Devon and London who are storming the British folk scene.
“When I was a child we were told to walk the fairy ring and then make a wish when we got to the middle.
I always wished for a horse. I got one about 30 years later! Be careful what you wish for.”
What Will it Look Like? Labyrinth Events to Punctuate the Visitor Season…
In the lead up to the festival and celebration, we will hold several labyrinth themed events aligned with Visit Isles of Scilly’s island festival programme, to increase local and visitor interest in the labyrinths, while simultaneously fine-tuning our methods for delivering high-quality events on the Islands:
During the new museum’s consultation phase, “a range of stakeholders highlighted the value of walks (guided and self-guided) as a method of encouraging audiences to explore and experience the heritage of the Isles of Scilly,” and the features and activities on Scilly which surveyed visitors in 2023 considered of highest importance to them were rest & relaxation and walking, each scoring 8.9/10. To ensure our project is aligned with these preferences, we will collaborate on their springtime walking festival Walk Scilly, by designing a labyrinth walk on St Agnes to inform and educate interested visitors about the history of Scilly’s oldest and most important labyrinth, Troy Town Maze.
As part of Visit Isles of Scilly’s celebration of island arts and culture, Creative Scilly Festival, we will partner with Cornwall-based folk heritage event programmers Stone Club for an evening of labyrinth inspired culture. Focussing on folk history and Britain’s prehistoric stone monuments, Stone Club’s events span film screenings, talks, literary festivals, music and more. Of surveyed visitors in 2023, 35% said that cultural events would encourage them to visit the islands, while History/Heritage/Archaeology scored 7.1/10 for features and activities that visitors considered the most important. Stone Club’s fresh take on ancient history will offer a refreshing new perspective on Scilly’s heritage to appeal to these visitor demographics, as well as providing opportunity for the local community to see how the heritage of our home connects with wider folk history. Some of Stone Club’s past events are below:
“Delivering a regular programme of cultural events for visitors and residents has been acknowledged by both
accommodation providers and businesses as a contributory factor in season extension and in particular addressing the challenges of attracting increasing numbers of visitors during the spring and autumn shoulder periods.”
Our Previous Work to inform the final Labyrinth Film…
The project will culminate in a short, lyrical film documenting elements from the whole project, presented beautifully to captivate audiences with Scilly’s mazey history and labyrinth symbology. This film will screen as part of the exhibition at the end of the project, and can then tour to exhibitions and film festivals afterwards to create further longevity for the project. The below video is a trailer from a similar film The Way of the Eel - a six-minute film by Teän Roberts shot in the Isles of Scilly about the local myth of Santa Warna, patron saint of shipwrecks. The Way of the Eel was screened at Cornwall Film Festival 2023, at The Fish Factory in Penryn, and at the Prince Charles Cinema in London’s Leicester Square as part of the RCA’s 2023 Cinema Takeover.
“The value of cultural heritage, namely ‘inherited assets which people identify and value of a reflection and expression of their beliefs and traditions’ is a foundation of the AONB management plan and IOSWT strategy. That crossover with the museum’s storylines and narratives is an important aspect to heighten.”
What Will it Look Like? Labyrinth Exhibitions
Venue One, St Agnes Island Hall: We have secured the use of the beautifully refurbished St Agnes Island Hall for a two week exhibition in September 2025. The off-island of St Agnes is home to Troy Town Maze - the oldest of the Scilly labyrinths - but this island attracts the smallest percentage of day-visitors from other islands at just 57%, compared to St Mary’s (81%) and Tresco (71%). By holding our exhibition here, we hope to attract additional day trip visitors to St Agnes during Scilly’s busiest month (data from 2023) to provide a boost for the island’s economy. Scilly Arts and Heritage have identified people who live on the off-islands as a priority audience to reach with arts and culture, as “off-island distinctive identities are not currently represented” and off-islanders face the most barriers to access from a “St Mary’s centric” arts and heritage offer. When asked about the “types of activities they would like to see in the new museum” off-island residents included “a travelling exhibition that also visits each of the off islands throughout the summer.” By delivering an exhibition on St Agnes, about the labyrinths - which are predominantly an off-island phenomenon (the most famous labyrinths being on St Agnes, Bryher and St Martin’s) - we hope to centre and prioritise this often overlooked group.
Venue Two, Island Spirit Gallery in the new Isles of Scilly Museum and Cultural Centre, opening Spring 2026: History/Heritage/Archaeology scored highly (71%) for features that visitors to the islands value most, and public consultations have shown that “there is a keen Interest in keeping museum ‘alive’ during the capital build period.” To help meet the expectation that the museum will “be a springboard from which to explore the islands” while the museum is under construction, Scilly Arts and Heritage are working closely with us to make the labyrinth project one of their pilot projects. Once the building is complete, we will hold a pop-up exhibition in the Island Spirit Gallery to showcase the labyrinth project on St Mary’s. This will increase audience reach of the project significantly. The Isles of Scilly had over 145,000 visitors in 2023, and of those surveyed 67% said that they had visited a gallery or museum during their trip. This suggests that the New Museum and Cultural Centre will attract almost 100,000 visitors in its first year, if visitor numbers to the Islands remain steady, brining the labyrinth project to a very wide audience. The Island Spirit Gallery’s theme resonates perfectly with our project, described as: “The Isles of Scilly are a magical place. People have lived, worshipped and died here since prehistory, including through times of war and peace. We see evidence of their lives and deaths in the archaeology, folklore, myths and legends. We see it in their literature, language, art and music, and in the continuing creative and religious traditions of the Islands today” - and knowing that 90% of all survey respondents expressed positive interest in this interpretation theme, suggests that our project will be similarly well-received by visitors to this gallery.
Venue Three, Newlyn Gallery and the Exchange: To further increase the project’s reach, we will approach Newlyn Gallery and the Exchange in Newlyn and Penzance about “twinning” our labyrinth exhibition at the new Museum and Cultural Centre on St Mary’s with a concurrent labyrinth exhibition in one of their galleries. Of those surveyed, 35% of visitors said that cultural events would encourage them to visit the Islands, so by seeking to expand our cultural offering by programming a joint exhibition simultaneously across these venues, we hope to attract more visitors to both venues who, after seeing part of the show in one gallery will make the trip over the water to see the other half.
We are experienced at preparing our own work for exhibition, as well as curating some of our own grass-roots shows. To level-up our curatorial capacities, we will partner with Scilly Arts and Heritage’s new museum curator for guidance in exhibiting archival material alongside new works to create an engaging exhibition for island audiences. From left to right, our artworks exhibited in: New Folk, North Lincs Museum 2022; RCA2023, Royal College of Art 2023; Glimmering Thicket, Steamship Project Space 2020; Work in Progress Show, London Metropolitan 2019; Submerged Bodies, Exeter Curation MA Gallery 2023; The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, Stone Lane Gardens 2022; We Are Floating in Space, Newlyn Gallery and the Exchange, 2023.
“Of surveyed visitors, 35% said that cultural events would encourage them to visit the Islands, while History/Heritage/Archaeology scored 7.1/10 for features and activities that visitors considered the most important.”
Project Team:
Layan Harman is co-lead on this project, with experience leading workshops with schools, curating and installing exhibitions and programming performance nights. Layan will be leading on survey, workshops, performance and installation elements. Layan’s own art practice includes performance, costume, sculpture and traditional craft techniques - expertise he will also apply to this project. Layan and Teän have been collaborating creatively since meeting on the RCA’s Contemporary Art Practice MA in 2022. Their notable collaborations include an interactive, biomimetic bee-hive installation for the Tate Modern’s Tate Late in March 2023, and a shadow puppet theatre performance in the mouth of a Cypriot cave.
Teän Roberts is co-lead on this project. With a background in event production, plus extensive experience creating artworks on Scilly and delivering events for the community, Teän will lead on production and logistics for the project, using their broad network of on-island contacts to ensure effective delivery at every stage. Teän’s own art practice spans photography, film, costume, textiles and installation, centring place, myth and heritage to tell old stories in new ways - a lens they will bring to this work. Teän’s experience growing up on Scilly has equipped them with rich local knowledge of island folklore and local history, these insights will provide a deeper context to better understand the labyrinth research and project development.
Tom Goskar is an artist, archaeologist and technologist specialising in 3D capture and enhancement (think making petroglyphs, decorated stones, or inscriptions easier to see and study), Generative AI, and audiovisual techniques. Tom is also a folklorist, focussing on the seasonal celebrations of the South West, and traditional Cornish music and dance. Tom will employ traditional and experimental 3D scanning techniques to create an accurate picture of Giants Castle Maze and creatively inform the community consultation on the best approach to restoration. A recent recipient of an ACE DYCP grant to help him develop his innovative scanning methods, Tom’s practice bridges art, archeology and technology in innovative ways.
Originally from just over the water in Mousehole, Daisy Rickman is one of the brightest rising stars in today’s folk-music revival. Known for her ‘hypnotically deep voice,’ ‘captivating music’ and ‘glowing strings’ Daisy’s songs lend themselves perfectly to the labyrinths’ mysterious coils. Daisy is also a visual artists - taking inspiration from the myths and customs of West Penwith - and will bring her unique creative vision to the spectacle of the festival and celebrating, commemorating the reopening of the restored Giant’s Castle Maze in appropriately spell-binding style. Daisy has never played on Scilly before, so will refresh the musical scene on the islands, offering something contemporary and unique.
Listen on Spotify here (link)
Hailing from nearby Devon, Goblin Band have taken the national folk music scene by storm thanks to their fearless and innovative approach to reimagining traditional English folk songs. They will lead the labyrinth dances (the “serpent dance” and the “snail creep)” at the festival and celebration in their quintessentially rowdy and audience-inclusive style. Always creatively dressed, they will don outlandish labyrinth-inspired costumes for their performance to delight and entertain - embodying mazey madness and mystery. They will also play some gigs across other island venues in order to bring their particular blend of fearless-folk to Scilly’s audiences.
Listen on Bandcamp here (link)
Founded by artists Lally MacBeth & Matthew Shaw, Stone Club is a place for stone enthusiasts to congregate, to muse, and to stomp to stones. Stone Club encourages people to pause and think about place in new ways; connecting ancient sites through community and conversation. Though their series of nation-wide talks, screenings and events, they aim to bring new, collaborative and inclusive perspective to prehistory, folk and all things stone. Their involvement in the project will link Scilly’s labyrinths to their wider symbology and ancient roots via walks, talks and podcast episodes. As artists themselves they will add further creativity and innovation to the way the project is shared beyond the island’s shores.
More from Stone Club here (link)
Arts and Heritage Programmer for the Islands, Jeremy Brown has over seven years’ experience facilitating cultural events on the islands in his role within Creative Islands - the Isles of Scilly Council’s creative culture initiative. An integral part of developing the islands’ Manifesto for Culture in 2020 and a key player in the island’s new Museum and Cultural Centre project, Jeremy has already been instrumental to our planning stages and will continue to consult with us throughout the project, bringing his wealth of specialist knowledge to help us deliver our goals successfully, on time, and within budget.
Culinary artist Poppy Litchfield, designs seasonally-relevant, place inspired food and drink as artform. She will be turning her unique culinary sensitivities to labyrinths in order to provide refreshments at the festival and celebration, partnering with local inn and theatre venue The Old Town Inn to deliver this vision successfully on island. When surveyed in 2023, the highest scoring percentage of visitors (68%) said food and drink festivals would encourage them to visit the Islands. We hope that Poppy’s involvement will help us to better align the island’s visitor offer to the expectations and needs of visitor customers.
Dr Katharine Sawyer will be our archaeological lead on the project in her capacity as resident archaeological advisor for the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, who are current custodians of the Giant’s Castle Maze site. With a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and over twenty years first hand experience of Scilly’s historic sites, Katharine is already undertaking the restoration of Troy Town Maze together with Historic England, and is ideally placed to supervise the survey and restoration elements of our project, as well as assisting us with the community consultation process.
“There is a clear interest in exploring the history and heritage of the islands beyond the confines of the museum. Learning from experts and through practical activities such as archaeology, photography and arts and crafts was favoured. This finding points to a demand for a public outreach programme using the museum and the collection as a springboard for exploring the landscape, and that exploration and learning is enhanced by experts and knowledgeable facilitators.”
