Talk:Randoll Coate
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[edit] Does "Imprint" = "The Imprint of Man" ?
I've done a bit of extra reading/searching around the subject and I suspect that "The Imprint of Man" and "Imprint" are the same maze: both are footprints, both in Gloucestershire. A picture captioned "Imprint" in The Art of the Maze shows the bridge to the artificial island, and repeats the story of the design becoming too big for the field. It's clearly a left foot. In Magical Paths the same photo is shown (upside down) and it's called "The Imprint of Man"; it says it symbolises the unnamed owner's wish to leave an imprint on the earth and step into the unknown, and also contains 132 symbols in all, including numerals, signs of the zodiac and animals. The Art of the Maze goes into more detail, saying the local wild animals and a Noah's Ark were included "for the owner's children".
Fran Severn's Mazes by Minotaur article [1] says:
- More personal is the garden maze at the home of Alan Scott in the Coltswold (sic) Hills. "Scott said he wanted to leave his mark on the land," says Randoll Coate. "We took him literally, so the maze is in the shape of a giant foot. Actually, it's a composite. We traced the left foot of each member of the family and merged them."
- "Imprint," as the maze is called, was planned for the Scott children and so is filled with the shapes of birds, rabbits, frogs, foxes, snakes, and other creatures hidden in the layout of the hedges. For balance, Minotaur added symbols of man, including the alphabet, the elements, the planets, and the signs of the zodiac.
It looks suspiciously like one and the same to me. I suspect Alan Scott commissioned it, and Chubb and Durie bought the house later. Their garden certainly had just such a maze: see Chubb's 2001 obituary [2] where it says:
- He was also involved in local environmental issues. His garden, which included a pond, a stream, a waterfall and a half-acre maze of hedges shaped like a foot, was included in the National Garden Society's list of distinguished gardens (sic).
(There ain't no such thing, so far as I know: they may mean it was once open for The National Gardens Scheme). The obit also says:
- He is survived by his wife of 10 years, Sarianne Durie, and a step daughter, Aletta van Barthold, age 20.
(ie no Chubb children at the time the maze was made - unless they died in the interim!)
On that basis I think we should probably remove both sets of owners' names (especially as the maze doesn't seem to be open to the public). SiGarb | Talk 20:27, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] "Randoll" or "Randall"?
The Foreign Office List and Diplomatic and consular year book, 1956, London: Harrison etc., page 16, line 23, and p. 209: Gilbert Randall Coate, The Hague. It's hard to believe, that there is a wrong spelling in this governmental publication. Does Mr Coate change his name? Why? Does anybody know? -- RTH 16:48, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
