OUR recent talk of binks, plus the glories of flaming June, has enticed Janet Sweeting to tour upper Teesdale in search of milk stands – and her study brings a hitherto overlooked element to our discussion of these remote pieces of stonework.

A bink gets its name as it is a stone bench – long and flat – on which milk churns were once placed.

There were two types of bink: one at a cottage door, often with a sink attached, on which the churn was placed and the milk converted into butter or cheese; another at the bottom of the farm drive on which the churns were placed for connection. This latter bink was also known as a milk stand.

Janet’s tour from Middleton-in-Teesdale up to Langdon Beck produced photographic evidence of seven milk stands in varying states of disrepair – the era of the churn came to an end around 1970, so they’ve had 50 years to fall down.

But two of the seven have a step or two to give access to the top of the milk stand. This suggests the height of the stand was set either so the churn could be easily pulled into a lorry or so it could be rolled across a man’s back.