Ali Haywell

The origins of stools are obscure, but they are known to be one of the earliest forms of wooden furniture.[1] The diphros was a four-leg stool in Ancient Greece, available in both fixed and folding versions. Percy Macquoid claims that the turned stool was introduced from Byzantium by the Varangian Guard, and thus through Norse culture into Europe, reaching England via the Normans.[1][2] Table and stools from Bulgaria Milking stool In the medieval period, seating consisted of benches, stools, and the very rare examples of throne-like chairs as an indication of status. These stools were of two forms, the boarded[3] or Gothic[2] stool, a short bench with two board-like feet at the ends[2] and also the simple turned stool. Turned stools were the progenitor of both the turned chair and the Windsor chair. The simplest stool was like the Windsor chair: a solid plank seat had three legs set into it with round mortice and tenon joints. These simple stools probably used the green woodworking technique of setting already-dried legs into a still-green seat. As the seat dries and shrinks, the joints are held tight. These legs were originally formed by shaving down from a simple branch or pole, later examples developed turned shapes. Artefacts of the three-legged stools are extant from the 17th century[where?], as is an illustration of an early turned stool of this period.[4] One of the uses for three-legged stools is for farm workers in milking cows. Later developments in the 17th century produced the joined stool, using the developing techniques of joinery to produce a larger box-like stool from the minimum of timber, by joining long thin spindles and rails together at right angles.[5]