The Crooked Spire

When I was a boy I can remember seeing pictures of two distorted buildings which didn’t look real. One was the leaning tower of Pisa, which I have visited. The other was the crooked spire of Chesterfield church, which I had not visited until today.

I had travelled to nearby Derbyshire to visit a friend, he and his wife have recently moved from Yorkshire to a village outside Chesterfield. Most of the village is owned by the Duke of Devonshire, all doors being painted blue. Their little close is an exception.

This morning we visited Chesterfield and its church. Why is the spire, built around 1360, twisted in such an extraordinary way ? It is not because the frame uses 150 tons of unseasoned (“green”) oak (most likely from Sherwood Forest). That was normal, “green wood” being much easier to work with. Nor is the twist unusual, that too was normal in ambitious spires of the period (although the Black Death killing many craftsmen who could make adjustments as the wood seasoned may be a factor).. What really gave it its accidental lean seems to have been adding 50 tons of locally mined lead in 1639, the lean exaggerated by the herringbone pattern.

The structural stability of the spire is checked every 5 years. It is perfectly stable.