How Wenlock tower lost its spire

For many generations of Wenlock folk the spire on top of the Norman tower will have been a familiar feature, but there can be few folk living now who can recall the church having its former appearance.

So why was the spire removed? It was not, as it happens, an original feature of the church, which has an ancient foundation.

Indeed, it was a striking but rather incongruous later addition.

The spire, a timber and lead structure, is said to have been added some time in the early 18th century, with 1726 being given as the exact date.

However, as the tower had not been intended to take such extra weight, the burden caused considerable difficulties in keeping both the spire and tower in a safe condition.

Then in the late 1920 plans were in hand to rehang the existing bells and add two new bells, which were the gift of a Thomas Cooke. But when the walls of the tower were examined, there was a shock. The structure was cracked from top to bottom.

To relieve it of weight, it was decided that the spire should be taken down. The timbers of the spire were then found to have been attacked by death watch beetle, and the lead was in a bad condition.

It seems to have been taken down in the first week of August 1930 and it was witnessed by the late Jack Owen, who was at the time a 15 year old working as an errand boy for Hunters tea stores in Much Wenlock High Street, delivering groceries and so on around the area on a carrier bike.

He recalled seeing the steeplejacks putting their ladders up the steeple and fastening the rope with a cradle on.

“If I remember rightly there were three of them. They were kicking their feet against the lower part of the steeple and swinging around. The people watched their antics in amazement.

“First of all they had to take the lead sheeting off the spire. The weight of the lead was causing the tower base to sink in to the ground,” he said.

Part of the spire was charred, with one old resident saying this happened when it was struck by lightning in 1887.

There were other serious problems with the foundations which, with the tower standing on soft clay, were difficult to solve.

A drilling machine was hired in the hope that rock would be reached, but without success, and a large reinforced concrete floating raft was substituted for the foundations.

Hundreds of tons of cement grout was pumped into the walls.

Overall the restoration cost around £2,000 and there was a reopening service on Friday, May 1, 1931, when the Bishop of Hereford dedicated the two bells presented by Thomas Cooke to complete the octave.