It is an intriguing piece of land art, a hymn to the almost-lost craft of Cornish hedging and also – perhaps – an optimistic message from the early 21st century to future generations.
As the sun rose over Bodmin Moor on spring equinox morning, a Cornish bagpipe struck up and Kerdroya, five years in the making and built to last four millennia, was officially opened.
The work, 56 metres in diameter, is a labyrinth made of Cornish hedges (unique structures made of stone and turf) commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of Cornwall’s landscapes being given official protection.
Will Coleman, the bagpiper and labyrinth creator, was feeling exhilarated as the spring sunshine began to warm Kerdroya – a Cornish word that can be translated as Castle of Turnings – and the first visitors arrived.
“It’s been hard work but really worth it. I’m delighted we’re finally open. Every stone here tells a story.”
That makes a lot of stories. More than 140,000 stones have been laid to create half a kilometre of winding hedging. A thousand volunteers and 5,000 schoolchildren have helped build it and more than 150 people have received training in the craft of hedging, which is rated as “endangered” by the charity Heritage Crafts.
Coleman led the Guardian around the labyrinth on the banks of Colliford Lake, pointing out the different types of stone and techniques used to lay them. There is not just one sort of Cornish hedge: different areas have their distinctive styles dictated by the type of stone and local building traditions.
“The first important thing to say is that in Cornwall, a hedge is not a row of fluffy green bushes,” Coleman said. “That’s a hedgerow. A hedge in Cornwall means a stone-built structure. You have a rammed earth core and two faces of stone.
“A really important aspect is the batter [the receding slope of the wall]. So if you look from the end, you’ll actually see it’s got a curve like a lighthouse or oak tree.
“The other thing is the stone to stone contact. Every one of these stones is making contact with the ones around it, top, bottom, side to side. You should not be able to wobble a single stone. Every single stone is wedged in.”
When built correctly, Cornish hedges last a very long time, with some believed to be 4,000 years old, making them one of the oldest human-made structures still used for their original purpose.
Many of the grounders, the base stones, for Kerdroya were hauled out of the lake during a drought and moved to the labyrinth by horse and sledge.
There are grey, hulking granite stones from Bodmin Moor in the structure, but also more delicate, lighter-coloured ones brought in from other parts of Cornwall such as serpentine from the Lizard, mainland Britain’s most southerly point.
One section is made using a technique called “lyverva” (Cornish for a library), with the stones resembling books neatly lined up on shelves. Another, featuring long ranks of similar sized stones, is the result of a method known as “little soldiers”.
The hedges are topped with turf – tubbins – which even this early in the season is alive with wild flowers. “Because of the shape of the labyrinth, you’ve got every different possibility of shade, sun, exposure, shelter, wet, dry, and everything in between. So every little flower has got something they like,” Coleman said.
Scores of people, from Cornwall and from across the world, have donated to the labyrinth, with contributions paying for a yard of wall and commemorated with small plaques.
The messages on them are hopeful, thoughtful. “A yard of wishes, a hedge of hope for my Cornish grandchildren,” says one. “Life is not just a problem to be solved but a path to be explored,” says another.
And at the centre is a piece of art by local father and son team Gary and Thomas Thrussell. It is their take on the labyrinth, made of copper and marine grade stainless steel.
The labyrinth is not quite finished.
Asked when it would be completed, Coleman replied (only half jokingly): “I think it probably only needs another 100 years to get to a place where I’d feel happy, and then after that you need about 4,000 years to mature. This project is about the long now.”
Coleman said that digital records of what humans are up to may vanish in disasters to come – but the labyrinth would probably last. “In a few hundred years time, somebody might come visit this site and get the notion that some of us actually cared. So this is not really intended for us, it’s intended for those yet to be born.”
• Kerdroya is situated at Colliford Lake, St Neot, PL14 6PZ. Entrance is free.
