Heavens Above!—ascending our church spire
by Simon Spurway, Ben Dawson, Ian Hodge and Dick O’Neill
This article gives a photographic narrative of steeplejacks repairing Chiselborough Church spire in January 2021, followed by the intrepid sponsored ascent by Dick O’Neill on 10 April to inspect the works.
Like a closer view of any photograph? Easy - just click on it!
These initial images, by Simon Spurway, show the degraded state of the spire, the guys going about their repair work in January, and then having some fun on the way down, as well as a moment's rest on a churchyard bench.
Here below, thanks to Ben Dawson of Dawson Steeplejacks, you have a chance to savour an array of thrilling photographs of our village, from an extraordinary viewpoint. Naturally it’s unlikely that we’ll ever have the opportunity to see this dizzying view with our own eyes so we greatly appreciate Ben’s generosity in sharing these images with Chiselborough village. He also supplies some fascinating close-up studies of the gilding work on the cockerel.
The Dawson family business was established in 1837 in Pudsey, Yorkshire. The family first travelled to the South West in the early 1900’s, when they went to Cornwall to build tin mine chimneys. Once these were completed the family decided to stay in the area and moved to Somerset to build the coal mine chimneys. Currently the fourth, fifth and sixth generation of the family work side-by-side in Dawson Steeplejacks.
Like a closer view of any photograph? Easy - just click on it!
Sponsored climb of the spire, 10 April: Dick O’Neill climbed the spire to inspect the works and raise funds towards their cost. Dick writes:
A very big thank you to everyone who sponsored me to climb the Spire to check on the repairs, I am delighted to say that Dawsons Steeplejacks have done a great job and by the way, the view from the top was stunning! We have made over £1400 towards the cost of the repairs (the total being an eyewatering £40,000), which is fantastic. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.
Here below are a few photos taken by those watching, and hopefully Dawsons will send me some more next week taken with the GoPro they lent me.
For a fuller, closer view of any photograph, simply click on it.
… Why were these works necessary?
There is no definitive date for when the spire was built, as it was added at a later date from when the church was built, however it is believed to have been constructed in the 15th Century and is built out of ham stone. Every 10 years the security of the lightning conductor on top of the spire has to be checked by climbing up the spire and so there are now permanent fixing points up the side for ladders to be attached to.
Last year water was coming through the spire and dripping onto the bells and so during the lightning conductor check last autumn they were asked to take some photos of the pointing and stonework as they climbed. These showed that some of the pointing was in poor condition and so, after discussion with the church architect, steeplejacks were commissioned to carry out a full survey, while at the same time removing the cockerel on the weathervane to be taken back to their workshop to be checked over and re-gilded. This survey identified that much of the pointing was in poor condition, especially at the top of the spire, with some ham stone cracked as well where in the past it had been pinned with iron which rusted and expanded and hence cracked the stone.
There appears to be no record of the last time major work was carried out on the Spire, but hopefully now these repairs are complete no further major work will be required for at least 50 years with the exception of the survey and gilding of the Cockerel which is now carried out every 20 years after one wing fell off in gales in 1999.
- Dick O’Neill