Randoll Coate

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Gilbert Randoll Coate (8 October 1909 – 2 December 2005) was a British diplomat, maze designer and "labyrinthologist".

Early life

The son of Charles Philip Coate, an

Having had a long-standing interest in art and history, Coate took to designing mazes and completed over 50 new mazes in Britain and around the world. Coate's maze designs are particularly noted for their symbolism. Although it is rarely possible to see a large maze in plan view, Coate's designs would often incorporate hidden shapes and references of significance to the clients who had commissioned the maze.

Coate's first maze commission, The Imprint of Man, was completed in 1975 for a private garden at Lechlade Mill in

• Pyramid (1977) — yew hedge maze in the form of a
  Château de Belœil
  , Belgium, in which the height of the hedges increases to reach 6 m at the centre
• Creation (1979) — yew hedge maze at Värmlands Säby, Sweden, for the Baroness of Falkenberg, with overlapping layers of symbolism. Seen one way, the egg-shaped outline represents the Garden of Eden incorporating figures for Adam, Eve, the Serpent and the apple. Seen another way, the hedge outlines form the shape of the horned Minotaur of the original Minoan labyrinth.

Minotaur Designs

In 1979, Coate was introduced to

• Archbishop's Maze (1980) — a brick path and turf maze at Greys Court, England, incorporating Christian symbolism to commemorate the maze metaphor that Robert Runcie mentioned in his enthronement address on becoming Archbishop of Canterbury
• Beatles Maze (1984) — brick path and water-channel maze at the first
  yellow submarine at its centre, and with an outline in the shape of an apple, in reference to The Beatles' Apple Corps record label
• Bath Festival Maze (1984) — a stone path in Beazer Gardens near the
  Georgian fanlights, arches from Isambard Kingdom Brunel's railway and a Roman-inspired mosaic
  circle at its centre
• Marlborough Maze (1988) — a yew hedge maze at Blenheim Palace for the Duke of Marlborough and based on a stone carving by Grinling Gibbons representing the "Panoply of Victory", with a symbolism based on cannons, banners and trumpets.

Other mazes

• Sun Maze and Lunar Labyrinth (1996) — Longleat, near Bath, England, for the Marquess of Bath (who has another four mazes in the grounds of the house)
• Lappa Valley Railway Maze — yew hedge at the Lappa Valley Steam Railway, Cornwall, England, shaped like an early steam locomotive
• El laberinto de Borges (Borges Memorial Maze, 2003) — San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina, box hedge maze, measuring 95 m by 65 m, in memory of the writer Jorge Luis Borges (a personal friend of Coate's), inspired by his short story "El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan" (English: "The Garden of Forking Paths"). Shaped like an open book, the design incorporates, in Braille, a quotation from the blind writer, that a book and a labyrinth are "one and the same".
• The same design of the Borges Memorial Maze was used to build another one in the city of Venice in 2011, near the basilica of San Marcos, at San Giorgio Magiore´s gardens
• Alice in Wonderland Maze 1991, Dorset
• Ziggurat Maze Moray, Scotland
• Ariel Maze Jersey
• Pommerie Maze Shropshire

Family life

In 1955, Coate married the painter, Pamela Dugdale Moore, with whom he raised two daughters, Caroline and Penelope. He was also made a Chevalier of the Ordre de Léopold in 1965 and appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1966.

He died in Le Rouret, near Grasse, France, on 2 December 2005, aged 96.

Bibliography

• Coate, R; Mont Athos, la Sainte Montagne (Arthaud, 1949)
• Fisher, Coate and Burgess; A Celebration of Mazes (1984)
  ISBN 0-948265-85-X
  .

• Obituary by
  Adrian Fisher, The Independent
  , 14 January 2006, p43.
• Obituary in The Times, Retrieved 6 February 2006.
• Obituary in The Telegraph, Retrieved 4 February 2006.
• viatraveldesign, Retrieved 4 February 2006.
• Mazes by Minotaur article, Retrieved 4 February 2006.
• Borges labyrinth, Retrieved 6 February 2006.
• Borges labyrinth, with picture (in Spanish)
• Adrian Fisher & Georg Gerster; The Art of the Maze, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1990)
  ISBN 0-297-83027-9
• Jeff Saward; Magical Paths, Mitchell Beazley (2002)
  ISBN 1-84000-573-4

• Mazemaker.com — The website of Adrian Fisher's current maze design company incorporates a portfolio of past projects, including photographs and descriptions of mazes created in partnership with Coate