Remember, a couple of posts ago when I was wondering what this was used for?  Well, I thought that I would email Ballenberg and ask the experts.  Within an hour, there came a reply:

“The object in question has been used to transport great big wheels of cheese. The cheese would have been strapped to the round bit of the object, and the whole thing carried on the back similar to a backpack”

Who’d have guessed that? 

Thank you, Petra, from the museum, for such a clear answer!