Correct, Joe. "Windmills" it is.

The Fylde of Lancashire is the area between the rivers Wyre and Ribble, stretching west to the Irish Sea coast from a line roughly between Preston and Lancaster. About twenty miles square, the area once possessed thirty-five windmills. Allen Clarke, who coined the name "Windmill Land", was a local journalist whose book of that title, published 1916, is still highly sought after.

Alan Bell was born within sight of Staining Mill (still standing with full sails, renovated after a disastrous fire and subsequently converted to a private dwelling). He used to nurse an ambition to own one of these relics, and took an image of Staining Mill as the original logo of Fylde Folk Festival in Fleetwood, about to celebrate forty years under his direction at the end of this month.

After the Taverners' version, my favourite renditions of the song were by the McCalmans and Archie Fisher. It remains one of Alan's best songs.

Ross