St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield (The Crooked Spire)

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post about the Mediaeval Barn in Dronfield.  I haven't had time yet to reply to them but I promised in that post a few notes about Chesterfield Parish Church also known as The Church of the Crooked Spire - so here goes.....

It is thought that there has been some sort of place of worship on this site since Roman times and the present church stands in the middle of what was a Roman settlement.  The first record of a church in Chesterfield can be found in the Lincoln Cartulary which refers to a church in the town in the time of Edward the Confessor.    The advowson (which means the right to appoint a parish priest of the church) was given to the Dean and chapter of Lincoln Cathedral by William Rufus.  Building of the earliest parts of this church began c. 1234  Further building work, additions and alterations were done over the centuries in 1360, 1500, 1738, 1843 and 1910.

There are various stories about why the spire is crooked or twisted. It was added to the tower in the 14th century.  A possible explanation put forward was that the heat of the sun on green timbers caused one of the main supports to split thus causing the spire to tilt and bulge.  The herringbone pattern of the lead plates adds to the twisted appearance.  There are legends too about why the spire may be crooked.  One is that Satan, whilst flying from Nottingham to Sheffield, landed on the spire and that the scent of incense from the church below caused him to sneeze so violently that he twisted the spire.  The other legend is that when a bride of great beauty and virtue entered the church for her wedding the tower was so overcome that it bowed in admiration and couldn't right itself afterwards.  (Sounds a bit like me when bending down to retrieve something from the floor but that is another story.)

Shall we go inside?

Above, the nave which has two aisles, was completed in 1360 and was built in the Decorated Gothic style.  We visited the church about 10a.m. and the lights weren't on inside so it was quite dark in places.

Above in the Lady Chapel are various monuments and tombs of the Foljambe family, the earliest  from 1510 is for Henry Foljambe and his wife Benedicta.

Apparently the window above which is in the Baptistery, is now the oldest in the church and it was installed in 1874.

The shadows created by the statues on the ceiling and walls of the Choir were amazing.

The early Norman tub font is in the south transept. At some stage it was removed from the church but found later buried in the vicarage garden.  It was restored and returned to the church in 1898.

The alter above was designed by Harold Gibbons in 1936. The window above it was designed by Christopher Webb in 1947.

As you can see, photography was difficult with the lighting conditions and my camera struggled even with flash.  Photos four, five six and seven were taken by Paul the rest are mine.

I'll be back tomorrow with Five on Friday.