Part 24

The existence of a spire pre-supposes two important conditions: (1) A well-trained band of masons; (2) a local supply of suitable stone; for in the Middle Ages the architecture of a district was influenced greatly by its geology; and, at any rate while the art of spire-building was in its infancy, we may almost add that a third condition was essential--the existence of a tower large enough and strong enough to support a superimposed spire, for in many of the early examples the tower is much older than the spire.

If we take a map of the county and place a mark wherever a steeple was built, we shall see how sporadic the art of spire-building was. Where stone of a suitable kind was to be obtained, there we shall find spires; an extensive cluster in the south, with a trail northward along the outcrop of the Keuper marl; a group of five spires in the magnesian limestone district around Mansfield; isolated examples along the banks of the Trent and Soar, where river-borne stone could be obtained; while the hundred of Bassetlaw, comprising large tracts of flat marshy land in the north of the county, may fairly be said to have been spireless, for only two medieval spires stand to the north of Tuxford, and both of these belong to a late period of architecture.

The blue lias limestone of the county, sometimes used for rubble walling in towers, was quite unsuitable for spire-building, and therefore the earliest spires are to be found on the skerry belt, wherever “water-stones” of good quality could be obtained; Tuxford, Maplebeck and Gedling were the principal quarries, while fairly good stone was obtained from the bank in the vicinity of Bunny and Gotham.

As facilities for transport increased, we find that the millstone grit from Castle Donnington and south Derbyshire was used in the southern portion of the county, and Lincolnshire oolite in the eastern portion. The tradition of river-borne stone having been used still lingers in Trentside villages; and even as late as 1742 one of our local artists shows the method of haulage then in vogue, where five men are seen on the towing-path, harnessed to a small boat.[80] (Horse haulage was not sanctioned by Act of Parliament until the middle of the eighteenth century.)

It is difficult to determine when spire-building first started in this country, for lightning, storm, and fire have destroyed every trace of the timber and shingle spires which prevailed before stone was adopted as the more suitable material.[81]

The origin of the spire grew out of the necessity for roofing the tower in some form. The simplest and most natural kinds of roof were the “pyramid” and “saddle-back.” The early Saxon churches, especially in districts exposed to the attacks of the Danes, each had a strong tower for defensive purposes, and this was invariably crowned with a pyramid. This type of tower roof was continued during the Norman period. The ancient towers at Halam, Flintham, and Fledborough still retain the original form of pyramidal roof, although in each instance they are modern restorations; and this applies also to the western towers at Southwell Minster. The ivy-mantled tower at Walesby is the only ancient tower in the county with a saddle-back roof; but this, again, is not the original work. Sometimes the pyramidal roof was set diagonally, thus forming a four-sided gable spire. We have only one example of this type remaining in England, at Sompting in Sussex, although it is still quite common in the Rhenish provinces.

As time went on, the churches were gradually enlarged to meet increasing needs; chancels were extended, aisles were thrown out necessitating the introduction of clerestories, and thus the tower, once the dominant feature, was dwarfed and made to look quite inadequate. It was natural, therefore, that the tower should be raised, when it not infrequently happened that the old roof was discarded, and a new type of “tower-roof,” a tall, tapering spire, was erected in its place, not only to keep out the weather, but designed as an ornamental feature to give dignity and importance to the whole fabric. At Bradmore, for instance, where only the steeple remains,[82] and that in a ruinous condition, the building periods are quite clearly marked. The lower stage of the tower, built of local blue lias limestone with skerry dressings, is the original steeple; this was raised by the addition of another stage, of a superior kind of workmanship, built of cleansed ashlar in large and regular courses of millstone grit, and this stage was eventually finished with a parapet surmounted by a plain octagonal spire of fourteenth century type.

The _stone_ spire first made its appearance late in the twelfth century, and became fully developed by the end of the fourteenth century. At first it took the same form as the discarded timber structures;[83] a stone corbel-table took the place of the dripping eaves, and from this rose a plain octagonal pyramid, the oblique faces being brought out to the square at the base with a plain splay. There is only one example of this non-lithic form of spire in Nottinghamshire--that at Gotham. To facilitate comparison, I have made a sketch of it side by side with a typical spire of timber and shingle. An Early English tower, 18 feet square, in three diminishing stages, without buttresses of any kind, stands at the west end of the nave. The walls are 3½ feet thick, finished with a corbel-table, from which a spire springs without the intervention of parapet or pinnacles. The spire is square on plan to begin with, but quickly assumes an octagonal form, the oblique faces being brought out with a plain splay above the squinches, which consist of well-formed pointed arches of one order. There are two tiers of lucarnes or spire lights in each cardinal face, with an orb and weather-cock as a finial at the summit. About twelve years ago the masonry was repaired and pointed, the upper portion of the spire, from just above the splays to the summit, being taken down and rebuilt in its original form. A peculiarity of this spire is that the stonework is left rough and irregular within, probably due in part to the fact that the local skerry or waterstone, of which the whole steeple is built, is very tough and difficult to work, and in part to the inexperience of the early builders. Speaking generally, spire walls are as truly worked within as without, and as the skill of the masons increased, the thickness of the masonry was reduced on account of the weight, until the utmost limit was reached. The beautiful spire at Louth (Lincs.), which rises to a height of 294 feet from the ground, is only 10 inches thick in the lower portion and 5 inches thick in the upper portion.

Kirkby-in-Ashfield has a spire similar to the one at Gotham, but it is modern, having been entirely rebuilt fifty years ago.

All through the thirteenth century and well on into the fourteenth century the broach spire was common. Instead of a splay, the angle between the square of the tower and the octagon of the spire was covered by a hood in shape a half-pyramid, now popularly called a _broach_, although originally that term was applied to the whole spire, and not to a part of it only. Whereas the earlier spires exhibited the constructive principles of the carpenter, this was essentially the mason’s method of covering the squinches; and so characteristic of masoncraft is it that to this day, whenever the broach form is used to stop a plain chamfer, either in woodwork or stonework, it is always called a “mason stop.”

One of the finest specimens of a broach spire in the county is at Normanton-on-Soar. It has a bold corbel-table in place of the plain dripping eaves, carved knots at the apices of the broaches, two tiers of lucarnes, and a distinct, though not too pronounced, entasis--all characteristic of the thirteenth century type. The tower belongs to the Early English period, and is built of rubble (blue lias limestone), with dressings of local skerry. The spire also is built of local skerry, but it is a later addition. It rises direct from the corbel-table, and assumes a graceful outline as it soars above the crossing of what once was a fine cruciform church, now, alas, despoiled of some of its original character, but still forming a very pleasing picture, especially when viewed from the opposite bank of the river Soar.

At Ratcliffe-on-Soar a further development in the evolution of spire design may be seen. An Early English tower (_c._ 1200) was surmounted a century later by a broach spire of similar construction and material to the one at Normanton-on-Soar, but with this difference, that here an attempt was made to overcome that sense of bareness and weakness which is so apparent in an ordinary broach spire. This was accomplished by carrying up each angle of the tower above the springing of the broaches, so as to form a base for an octagonal pinnacle; and it is interesting to notice that each pinnacle is a miniature of the spire which rises in the midst.

This innovation was intended not only to give weight and strength at the angles, but to overcome the abrupt appearance caused by the change from the square form of the tower to the octagonal form of the spire, and it is an interesting example in the transition from the “pathless” spire to the fully developed type having a pathway all round, with parapets between the pinnacles to mask the junction of the spire and tower.

The three spires--Gotham, Normanton-on-Soar, and Ratcliffe-on-Soar--standing in close proximity to each other, thus form an interesting study in the development of spire design.

Before proceeding to the consideration of spires with parapets, it may be well to give a brief enumeration of the remaining broach spires in the county.

_Willoughby-on-the-Wolds._--Similar in all respects to Normanton-on-Soar. Recently restored.

_Burton Joyce_, (_c._ 1300) is a typical illustration of a broach spire. The tower, 17 feet square, well buttressed in the lower stage, stands in the usual position at the west end of the nave, surmounted by a spire of good proportions with well-designed dormers on each cardinal face just above the dripping eaves, and lucarnes near the summit. Each angle of the spire was emphasised just above the broaches by a boldly carved knot of foliage--the forerunner of the crockets of a later style--but these are now damaged and worn, and the spire has in consequence lost much of its beauty. It nevertheless stands as a pleasing example of a steeple suitable for a village church. The building material was obtained from the quarries at Gedling, close by.

_Maplebeck._--A very good bed of skerry was quarried here. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the church has a spire. This is similar to the one at Burton Joyce.

_Mansfield Woodhouse._--This steeple was built to replace a timber spire which was burnt down in 1304. A curious effect is produced by a cluster of unpierced gablets which form a corona near the summit of the spire. The dormers, which stand out boldly from the dripping eaves on each cardinal face of the spire, are well designed and characteristic of the period.

_Holme_ (_Newark_) has a small, stumpy steeple, built of Lincolnshire oolite, in the fifteenth century, with broaches and spire lights after the manner of an earlier period.

_Edwinstowe._--This steeple, which forms a conspicuous landmark for miles around, has been the subject of much controversy regarding its design and its antiquity. Obviously, to make a good polygonal spire, the tower top from which it springs should be four-square; but in this instance, as in many others where the spire has been built upon a tower which was not originally intended to receive it, the width of the tower from east to west is greater than the breadth from north to south, and consequently the spire becomes an irregular polygon. The spire at Edwinstowe was built in the latter half of the fifteenth century upon a tower of twelfth or very early thirteenth century work. At first sight the spire appears to belong to the same period as the tower; the angle shafts in the peculiar arrangement of square pinnacles which are set upon the broaches may easily be mistaken for Early English work, but a more careful scrutiny reveals the fact that the merlons in the quasi-parapets have the mouldings mitred and returned on the sides as well as on the top--a sure indication of a later date. There are dormers at the springing to correspond with the pinnacles, the upper portion of the spire being quite plain, excepting that each cardinal face is pierced with a quatrefoil near the summit--a further indication of late date. Judging by the character of the work, I think it is probable that the spire was commenced after the completion of the north aisle, late in the fifteenth century, but it did not survive completion long, for in 1679 the parishioners sent a petition to King Charles II. asking for “£200 or 200 decayed oaks which are unfit for ship timber,” from the royal forest of Sherwood towards the cost (£300) of repairing “the Body of the Church,” which was “extremely shaken and in a very ruinous condition,” occasioned by the fall of the steeple, which about seven years ago “was beaten down by thunder.” The upper portion of the steeple at any rate, probably from the pinnacles upward, thus appears to be seventeenth century work. The blind arcades in the upper stage of the tower are the original belfry windows, which were built up when the spire was added. The oak beams of the old tower roof are still in position, and appear to have been utilised for hoisting up materials. The structural expedient for spanning the corners of the tower to suit the shape of the spire, and known as “squinches,” consist of concentric pointed arches in two orders, with a corbel stone and lintel in addition. All the masonry, both inside and outside the spire, is magnesian limestone most carefully worked. A very tall lancet window in the west face of the lowest stage of the tower is probably unique in that it is divided almost equally in height by a transom. The spire was struck by lightning forty years ago, which once more necessitated the rebuilding of the top portion.

_Misterton._--This steeple is sometimes described as belonging to the Early English period, but the statement is incorrect, as the spire has no claim to antiquity. The porch at the extreme west end of the south aisle gives entrance to the church through the tower--a very unusual arrangement. The tower and other parts of the church are built of fine grained magnesian limestone from the Roche Abbey district. The lower part of the tower formed the steeple to an earlier church. It was raised in the Decorated period to a high tower with parapet and pinnacles. The upper portion of the tower was damaged by lightning, and when it was rebuilt (1847–48) a broach spire of inelegant proportions was added. The ancient appearance of this spire is due to the fact that it is built of brown Yorkshire stone, in contrast with the white Roche Abbey stone used in the construction of the tower.

_Gedling._--This steeple is one of the earliest examples we have of a tower and spire of the same date. It was built about 1320, and although it now has battlements and a pathway all round, I think it should be classed with the broach spires. It is probably unique by reason of the remarkable entasis, which is not an “almost imperceptible swelling,” as the dictionaries have it, but a swelling so pronounced as to be almost a distortion. The builders of old understood the value of an entasis for correcting optical illusion, and either made the sloping sides of their spires slightly convex or, at a later time, produced the same effect by running crockets up the angles and making them larger, or of greater projection, in the centre and diminishing them as they neared the base and the summit (as at Louth); but here we have a divergence from the straight line of 24 inches, and what is more remarkable still, the cardinal faces of the tower _buttresses_ have also a similar curve. This is not due to settlement or defective building, for the whole structure stands as true and firm to-day as it did nearly 600 years ago.

In design and workmanship Gedling differs from any other church in the county, and I can only suggest that it is the work, not of local masons, but of craftsmen from some other part of the country, probably the Nene valley. The whole of the stone was obtained from the local quarry, which lies about three-quarters of a mile to the north of the church--now a tree-grown hollow on the western side of the lane leading up to Mapperley Plains. The stone, which is very tough, has been used in blocks of enormous size. The tower, 24 feet square, stands to the north-west of the church, and is only engaged in part with the north aisle. This unusual position, which has the advantage of enabling the tower to be well seen to its full height, is due to the fact that the road passes close to the south-west angle of the church in an oblique line and trends away to the north-west. The walls of the tower, 5 feet thick, are carried up in three stages to a height of 90 feet and heavily buttressed. A newel staircase, 2 feet 4 inches wide, occupies the north-west angle. It is worthy of note that this staircase stops at an internal platform before the leads are reached, and gives access to the bells only. To reach the pathway, it is necessary to cross the bell frames and pass through a small doorway on the north side. This fact alone is not conclusive, but it should be further noticed that the parapet is not continuous, as we should expect if it was coeval with the tower, but embattled; the merlons are low and thin, the pathway very narrow, and the appearance altogether is very unusual and suggestive of the work of a later period. A careful examination of the work at the base of the spire, which rises to a height of 180 feet from the ground, leads me to think that this steeple was originally a pathless one, and that the cardinal faces sprang from the top of a corbel table; but for some reason--perhaps for purposes of observation or to facilitate repairs--the lower part of the broaches and the sloping faces were afterwards cut away and parapets introduced. A horizontal moulding runs round the spire 8½ feet above the leads. The workmanship below this moulding is inferior, and the angles of the spire, which are beautifully moulded, do not “line” with the work above, in some cases by inches, which proves clearly to my mind that an alteration of some kind has taken place since the spire was built. There are no pinnacles to emphasise the corners, although the appearance of the steeple would be greatly improved by them. Tradition says that pinnacles were once in evidence, but they could only have been small and insignificant, judging by the smallness of the stools. There are canopied niches at the apices of the broaches, each designed to contain a sculptured figure in the attitude of prayer. The north-east niche is now tenantless. The north-west figure is worn beyond recognition; that on the south-west represents a lady, and that on the south-east a warrior. In consequence of exposure to the weather for 600 years, nearly every trace that might lead to the identification of these figures has been obliterated. It is still possible, however, to discern indications of chain mail on the armour of the warrior, and this is quite in harmony with the suggested date of erection.

Spire-building reached its highest perfection in this county in the middle of the fourteenth century, when the steeple of the parish church at _Newark_ was completed (_c._ 1356). The lower portion of the tower was built about 1230, but it was left unfinished until a century later, when a celebrated school of masons, who had done much good work in the neighbourhood, after completing the church at Grantham, came to Newark and carried the tower up to its full height, enriched with niches and sculptures and crowned with a lofty spire having moulded angles, four tiers of spire lights, slender broaches with carved knots at the apices, and a continuous perforated parapet between lofty angle pinnacles, which are pierced to allow for a pathway all round the base of the spire. Rickman says: “This spire deserves peculiar attention.... On the whole, perhaps, there are no specimens superior in composition and execution, and few equal.” It is built of Lincolnshire oolite, and stands engaged at the west end of the church, which comes close up to the pavement and can best be seen in its full height as it closes the vista down one of the narrow streets of the town. But whether viewed from this point or from the market-place, or from the surrounding fields and lanes, it cannot fail to charm the beholder by its gracefulness and beauty.

_Bingham._--Although this steeple is not so graceful as the one at Newark, it impresses by its solidity and strength, and is worthy of very careful study. It stands at the west end of the church, and consists of an Early English tower, having walls 5½ feet thick, chiefly built of local skerry, surmounted by a decorated broach spire of pleasing outline, having a pronounced entasis and three tiers of spire lights. The upper stage of the tower is pierced on each face with two two-light windows, having deeply recessed mouldings, arched heads, and finished with a corbel table, constructed in such a way as to suggest that a perforated parapet (probably similar to those at Newark and Thoroton) was anticipated, although it was never put on. The corbel table consists of masks with ball-flower ornaments, and carved foliage between them. The ball-flower predominates, and it is interesting to notice the irregularity in the width of the spaces between the corbels; in most cases two flowers suffice, while in others three are barely sufficient. Two of the pinnacles are mutilated sculptures of bishops in eucharistic vestments; they stand out conspicuously against the sky at the north-west and south-west angles of the massive tower. It is probable that in their original state the pinnacles were intended to represent the four Evangelists, but those at the north-east and south-east have been replaced by finials of Decorated types of foliage. The lancet window in the buttress on the western face of the tower is a very effective feature when seen through the tower arch from within, being recessed with splays more than 8 feet deep.[84]

_Whatton-in-the-Vale._--This steeple differs from its neighbour at Bingham, in that it stands above the crossing of a cruciform church.[85] In all other respects there is a great similarity. It was rebuilt in 1870–71, as nearly as possible on the original lines, and with the original material. The foundation is Norman work; the tower Early English, with plain parapet and pinnacles; the spire is Decorated, but obviously it is not high enough to be quite effective, in comparison with the broad tower on which it stands.