low-lying towns along the Ouse and Trent by realigning existing flood defences to create compensatory intertidal habitat around the estuary. The relatively new island of Whitton Island in the Humber Estuary falls partly within the parish. Walcot Walcot is an outlying hamlet situated to the south of Alkborough, and within the same parish. Landmarks Julian's Bower Close to the Cliff edge is Julian's Bower, a unicursal turf maze, 43 feet (13 m) across, of indeterminate age. Although referred to as a maze, being unicursal (having only one way in and one path through) it is more accurately a labyrinth. According to Arthur Mee's book Lincolnshire the maze was cut by monks in the 12th century, but White's Lincolnshire Directory of 1872 maintains that it was constructed in Roman times as part of a game. Others think that while the feature is of Roman origin, it was later used by the Medieval Church for some sort of penitential purpose and only reverted to its former use as an amusement or diversion, after the Reformation. Firm documentary evidence of its existence only seems to date from 1697 however, when it was noticed, on his travels, by the Yorkshire antiquary Abraham de la Pryme. In case the maze becomes overgrown or otherwise indistinct, its pattern is recorded, in a 19th-century stained glass church window, on the floor of the church porch and also on the gravestone of James Goulton Constable, which is in Alkborough cemetery. Julian's Bower is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Countess Close Countess Close (National Monument No. 32622; North Lincolnshire Sites and Monuments Record (NLSMR) No. 44) is a rectangular earthwork lying a few yards to the south of Julian's Bower. It measures approx. 80 m × 90 m internally. It was recorded by the 18th century antiquary, William Stukeley on a visit to the area whilst researching his book Itinerarium Curiosum (or Observations From A Journey). He thought Countess Close to be a Roman Fort, as did the earlier Abraham de la Pryme. However, a 2003 archaeological project carried out by Humber Field Archaeology concluded that, despite evidence of a Romano-British ladder settlement running south along the ridge from Countess Close, it is probable that the earthwork is the remains of a Medieval fortified manor house. It is thought that Countess Close is named for a Saxon heiress called Countess Lucy of Leicester, Lincoln and Chester. She inherited the land