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Weathervane History
      
Churches in the Middle Ages were used for various events including
concerts, art galleries, and museums. Another important function of these
churches included serving as a weather station for the community. Many
churches had working
sundials and a weathervane or windvane. Weathervanes
were called wind vanes, windvanes, weather vanes, weathervanes,
weathercocks, and just vanes. Home gardeners and farmers thought of the
weather vane as a weather predicting instrument. Weathervanes were often
just called just "weather" instead of their old name wind vane
due to their central function of predicting weather for the community.
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The earliest weathervanes were made of wood. Due to the inherent susceptibility
to weather, the very early dated wood weathervanes are very hard to find.
The oldest written description of a metal weathervane speaks of the Tower
of Winds in Athens. It was described by Vitruvius as having a conical
shaped piece of marble and a bronze Triton sitting on top with a rod
stretching out in its right hand. |
In the Middle Ages weather vane design was dictated by religion and the
military. Later the world was governed less by religion and force which
started a new chapter in the history of the weathervane. Weathervanes and
their uses started
to broaden serving as more of a symbolic purpose. Businesses and homes
began to adorn their buildings with weathervanes to serve as weather
instruments and as personal statements. Fish markets used fish
weathervanes, large stables sometimes added a horse
weathervane, and farmers sometimes would add a rooster
weathervane to their barn just to name a few. The weathervane became
more like a trade sign describing a business.
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