GAUGING THE WEATHER

The first weathervanes were made from strips of cloth or ribbon, tied to buildings or the prows of ships to indicate the way the wind was blowing. The word ‘faneon’, meaning banner, became ‘fane’ and then ‘vane’. But the first recorded appearance of the more familiar style of weathervane seems to have been in Athens, standing atop the Tower of the Winds. This octagonal tower, which still stands, was built by Pericles at the end of the 2nd century BC. Each side was decorated with a frieze depicting one of the gods of the winds, including Boreas, the north wind, dressed in warm clothes, and Zephyrus, the west wind, holding flowers to signify the gentle breezes of spring. A bronze statue of Triton, now missing, once turned to point at the relevant god. In Britain, most early weathervanes were found on churches. In the 9th century, Pope Nicholas I decreed that all churches should display the form of a cockerel; one of the symbols of Christianity. Increasingly, this became associated with the weathervane, giving rise to its alternative name of weathercock. Cardinal letters were unnecessary, as churches were always built with the altar at the east end. The earliest recorded British weathercock was erected on the tower of Winchester Cathedral in the 10th century, but the oldest surviving example is thought to be that at Ottery St Mary in Devon, which dates from circa 1340. Originally, it had hollow copper tubes so that it whistled: the louder the sound, the stronger the breeze, although the noise proved too much for the villagers, and the tubes were sealed. Weathervanes soon began to appear in different shapes, with dolphins, ships, harts and horses gliding through the skies. Large houses often included rows of stone animals holding banner vanes; many displaying coats of arms. By the 18th century, cardinal letters and date piercing had become common, and after the appearance of Halley’s Comet in 1758, the first time its predicted arrival was proved correct, comet weathervanes became hugely fashionable. Perhaps the most unusually shaped vane is that known as the ‘bedbug’ at St Mary’s church in Kingsclere in Hampshire. Tradition has it that King John ordered a bedbug to be displayed prominently in the town, having suffered them through a long night at a local inn in the early 13th century.