The day Chichester Cathedral's spire collapsed – and why it was a good thing

Can you imagine the cathedral without its spire? For that is what happened on February 21, 1861.

The cathedral spire collapsed after a supporting screen underneath was removed. It was thought it was not needed to structurally support the spire but soon after it was removed, cracks as long as 5ft started to appear.

Early in the morning, builders were brought in to prevent the spire from collapsing altogether. They put up wooden supports and so desperate was the situation, they even had permission to put them through some of the paintings in the cathedral.

But the inevitable happened and at 1pm, the spire started to collapse – and once it had begun to fall, reports show it took only ten minutes for it to completely tumble.

Stone, rubble and other materials were eventually carted off and used for the building of Spire Cottage in Hunston and Funtington Congregational Church, later known as the Old Chapel.

The Funtington and West Stoke Scout Group had its headquarters at the Old Chapel for 60 years and it was the perfect site for Scouting, with woods close by, but they had to leave in 2006 when the lease ran out.

The Clock Trust then bought the chapel in 2008 and Dr Paul Strickland and his father cleared it out and transformed the Grade II listed building into an education centre focusing on science, maths and engineering.

Looking back, the collapse of a spire was a good thing, in the sense that it meant proper foundations were put in as support when the new spire was built.

And to ensure the same never happens again, inspections are carried out every 25 years, the most recent in 2011 – 150 years to the day when the spire collapsed.

To the onlookers way down below, they were just two dots in the sky, carefully moving up and down cathedral spire – all in a day’s work for a steeplejack.

Using ladders and harnesses, Dan and Rob from Tarrant SE Ltd carried out a routine inspection, taking photos of any defective areas and removing any loose masonry.

It is a specialist job and labour intensive but using steeplejacks means the cathedral has a full close inspection without the need for expensive and time-consuming scaffolding.