Of fourteenth century, or Decorated, spires, we have many examples, of which perhaps the best is the beautiful spire of Salisbury Cathedral, although the equally fine one at S. Mary's, Oxford, runs it close for premier position. The triple group at Lichfield Cathedral belong to this period, as do the spires of Ross, Heckington, Grantham, S. Mary's, Newark, King's Sutton, Bloxham and Snettisham, Norfolk. A peculiarity of the Salisbury spire is that it never formed part of the original design of the cathedral, being added seventy years later. It is the loftiest spire in England—404 feet—about 40 ft. higher than the cross of S. Paul's. It speaks well for the Gothic builders that such a vast superstructure as this tower and spire could be imposed upon walls and piers never intended to bear it. At an early period it was found to have deflected twenty-three inches from the perpendicular, but there has been no sign of any further movement. Barnack Church, in Northamptonshire, has a curious spire showing the transition from Norman to Early English.

It will be noticed that the sides of a church spire are slightly curved, so that they swell out a little in the centre. This is called the entasis of the spire, and belongs to the study of optics in architecture. Where the spire has no entasis the same effect is produced by the introduction of small projecting gables, bands of carving, or a little coronal of pinnacles.

One of the most clearly marked differences between English and continental spires is that the latter are much shorter than the towers which support them, the towers, as a rule, being twice as high as the spires.

Leighton Buzzard Church.
With Early English Tower and Spire.
Photograph H. A. Strange.
Click to [ENLARGE]

In England, on the contrary, the spire is generally very much loftier than the tower. At Shottesbrook, Berks, and Ledbury, Herefordshire, the spires occupy as much as three-fifths of the total elevation, and the usual rule in England is for the tower to be a little less in height than the spire.

The masons lavished an extraordinary amount of care and skill on their spires. So much is this the case that there is hardly a mediæval spire in the country which can be called ill-designed or displeasing.

Church spires are very common in some counties and very rare in others. There are, of course, exceptions, but it is in the flat counties that spires are most frequent, the most beautiful ones being found in Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

The top of the spire is usually capped with a weather vane terminating in a cock. The custom of using a cock as the flag of the vane is of very early date, for Wolfstan, in his Life of S. Ethelwold, written towards the end of the 10th century, speaks of one which surmounted Winchester Cathedral. In the Bayeux Tapestry one is shown on the gable of Westminster Abbey, and one of the early Popes ordained that every church under the papal jurisdiction should be surmounted by a cock as emblematical of the sovereignty of the church over the whole world.