I WAS most interested to see your report (November 15) of Mark Dodsworth's aerial photography discovery. This certainly appears to be the remains of a turf maze, very probably like the one that used to exist on Ripon Common.

Traces of a similar maze may still be seen on the hill behind the Crab and Lobster restaurant at Asenby, near Topcliffe.

These turf mazes are difficult to date, but it seems possible that many of the examples known today were actually constructed by 18th century antiquaries.

Robert Field's recent book Mazes Ancient and Modern (Tarquin Publication, available in the City Art Gallery bookshop), offers an excellent survey, while my own article in the 1998 Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society discusses mazes in or near Yorkshire.

Dr Richard Crossley,

Arncliffe Mews, York.