Medieval Windmills

a record of progress among the Anglo-Normans

first came hospitals and leprosariums

then schools, orphanages and hospices

and, topping it all, the post-windmills

many scattered points of light

intensifying into a sweeping constellation

as technology illuminated the nation

(a utopian description of the 12^th century according to E. J. Keeley)

Keeley dates the first post-windmill in Britain to as early as 1137, possibly earlier.

graffiti illustrating a post-windmill, St Mary’s Church, Dalham, Suffolk 
(from a rubbing by Violet Pritchard)


Dante's Windmills 

look ahead and tell me

can you make it out?
through this pea-soup 

spreading murk about
as the night falls fast
over the vague redoubt 

what is that skirling

tower-like structure

in the far-away – 

is that a windmill
hurled by the gale?
or the very devil  

it's hard to tell

hid here behind
the tails of your coat  

after Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIV

 .