Recycling an old oak barrel

We've been planning to recycle this old oak barrel which has been sitting in the Creosote Yard for quite a long time.  In fact - a very long time! It took Chris (Genever) to get things up and running.  On the garage door canopy, Chris has put up guttering and down pipes, cut out the top of the barrel and installed a rain diverter.  The idea of the diverter is that when the barrel is full, excess water is diverted into what has always been, a very dry border under the garage window.  I shall now have a handy water source for watering pots and tubs at the front of the house.  The lid is awaiting some minor adaptation and the barrel aperture is just wide enough to dip in a watering can. How much nicer is this to look at than a plastic water butt?  Now we can recycle both an old barrel and the rainwater inside it.  We are just left wondering what the original contents might have been - hic!