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For such a small community I am surprised at the number of
properties on which a weather vane or, more popular in Houghton, a weather cock can be seen. In my travels around our parish
I have spotted 11 but no doubt more remain for me to discover. What is the difference?
Weather Cock.
This was reputed to have come about due to a 9th century pope who decreed that churches should have a cock on its dome or
steeple to remind people of the saying of Jesus that the cock would not crow until Peter had denounced him three times. (Luke
22:34)
Below six weather cocks seen around the village.
Weather Vane.
The word vanes derive
from the Anglo-Saxon word fane; meaning flag. The direction and speed a pennant blew would thus help the archers of the day
hit their targets. Later they were made of metal, often with the coats of arms of the nobleman on whose stately pile it was
fixed. Now a days there is almost no shape or subject not covered by a weather vane.
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