A 19th century farmer's flight of fancy has become one of North Yorkshire’s most unlikely tourist attractions.

The City of Troy is the romantic, if somewhat strange, name given to Europe’s smallest turf labyrinth, nestling on a quiet roadside near Skewsby in the rolling countryside of the Howardian Hills National Landscape

Such enigmatic landmarks – whose origins are often shrouded in mystery- have developed a legion of followers worldwide and now the Howardian Hills Partnership has unveiled a new interpretation panel on the site offering visitors the latest theory about its origins and purpose.

Antony Croser, from the Howardian Hills team, explained: “The pattern was cut sometime in the 1800s and we reckon it now ranks as the oldest intact monument of its kind in Yorkshire, with many others falling under the plough long ago. According to some locals, it was made by Robert Dobson, a farmer, who may have read of such creations in a newspaper cutting and thought he’d give it a go. He chose a spot on his land with magnificent views all around, although it has possibly shifted a little from its original site. It’s diminutive in size - about six metres in diameter - and comprises seven concentric rings. It really is the most fantastic thing and has earned quite a devoted following.”

The City of Troy name could be a reference to the maze games taken to Italy after the Greeks destroyed Troy in antiquity. What is known is that Welsh shepherds used to cut this pattern into the ground in the 1700s, whilst the highest concentrations of such relics worldwide is to be found on the Swedish island of Gotland.

Peter Clark, from Norton, a Methodist minster, former prison chaplain and expert on labyrinths, has been advising the Howardian Hills Partnership on the new interpretation board.

He said: “The City of Troy is not so much a maze, where ‘people get lost’, but rather a labyrinth where all paths lead to the centre and people can in a sense find themselves. Historically they’ve had a spiritual dimension as a place of mediation, commemoration or indeed celebration. There’s a sense in which the goal is clear – to get to the centre – but the route is not so obvious. Perhaps it was a way of re-creating a pilgrimage without making a hazardous trip to Canterbury or even Jerusalem. The tradition is many hundreds of years old, but it is going strong today and 80% of the labyrinths in Yorkshire were made in the last twenty years. It is heart warming to see the oldest of them all, the City of Troy, being so well cared for and valued.”