Photos of Chesterfield Parish Church

A twisted crooked spire by wit

The spire of Chesterfields St Mary's and All Saints Church is a well known landmark. It leans about 9 ft 6 in from its true centre and is twisted around 45 degrees. The spire was added to the tower of the church around 1362, about 12 years after the end of an outbreak of the plague and it was originally thought that a shortage of skilled craftsmen lead to the twist and lean. Current thinking now blames the 32.5 tons (33 tonnes or 36.4 US tons) of lead covering the original shingles. As the North side heats up more rapidly than the South in the sun there is an uneven expansion of the lead which has caused the twisting and leaning of the spire. Naturally various bits of folklore have become attached to the spire (it was kicked by the devil, the church twisted round to look at a virgin bride in surprise etc). See: <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chesterfields-crooked-spire" rel="nofollow">www.atlasobscura.com/places/chesterfields-crooked-spire</a> and of course: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Mary_and_All_Saints,_Chesterfield" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Mary_and_All_Saints,_C...</a> One last note - Wikipedia lists the churchmanship of St Mary's and All Saints as liberal, however a note in the entrance makes it very clear that it is High Church with incredibly strong Catholic leanings (it comes as no surprise that the current vicar is an ex-catholic priest - one suspects he still views himself as such). While this in itself is not a problem the austere and unwelcoming tone of the note with the implication that the visitor is somehow unworthy is.
Chesterfield Parish Church is an Anglican church dedicated to Saint Mary and all saints, located in the town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. Predominantly dating back to the 14th century, the church is a Grade I listed building and is most kn... Read further
Post a comment
Arrange By:
There are no comments yet. Maybe be you will be the first one to post useful information for fellow travellers? :)

Tourist attractions shown on this image

Important copyright information