Images

Many of the Stables' images are open to interpretation. Unambiguous is an unreefed, common sailed windmill, a post mill used for grinding corn (figures 1 & 2). The rendering includes the initials RM. It may represent a rebus inscription, an ornamental device associated with a person to whose name it punningly alludes, e.g. ‘Miller’ or ‘Millar’.⁶

Jon Sass, author of Windmills of Lincolnshire (2012), writes,

It depicts a wooden body, called a Buck, carrying the milling machinery and sails. The buck was mounted on the top of a stout vertical oak post which was secured by diagonal braces, called quarter bars. This arrangement allowed the buck and sails to be turned into the wind by a tail pole, shown to the side of the access steps descending from the door at the rear of the mill to the ground.

A weathervane, shown on the ridge of the buck, gave the miller accurate indication of the wind direction. The four double sided sails could be spread, from the ground, with canvas sailcloth like a sailing ship, which could be spread according to the wind speed and power required. These pre-date the semi -automatic shuttered sails, controlled by springs, invented in the late 18^th century.

A single pair of millstones is shown driven from the primary gear wheel secured on the sail axle, called a wind shaft. The primary gear, usually having a brake shoe mechanism around its circumference, is known as the brake wheel. The brake is operated by a rope which appears to be illustrated running from the left-hand side of the brake wheel.

The lower end of the tail pole on these early mills was often supported by a by a wheel rather than resting on the ground. The two pieces sticking upwards at the end of the tail pole could be for the miller to push against when turning the mill into the wind, and also could be used to yoke a draught animal to perform this task. To the side of the tail pole a little higher up could be the Talthur, pivoted on the side of the tail pole, and used to raise the lower end of the access ladder from the ground prior to winding the mill. The stringers of these steps often performed the task of transmitting the thrust of the wind on the lightly framed buck to the ground.

The design must predate 1745, at which time a fantail or rosette was invented to automate winding. Church medieval graffiti includes similar post mills. This may relate to St Victor of Marseilles, the patron saint of mills, who is depicted holding a mill on rood screens in churches at Torbryan and Wolborough, Devon. The Romans martyred him by crushing him to death with a millstone.

Figures 3 to 9 illustrate the variety of images.

A recurring icon is an ichthys two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish (figures 7 & 8). Ichthys is an acronym for the Greek words that translate as "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour." Christians persecuted by the Romans drew an Ichthys in the dirt to communicate their presence to other Christians. By the 18th century a fish pictogram may have developed a more ritual protection function.