Chesterfield is a market town in the county of Derbyshire in the English Midlands. It’s famous for its church, St Mary’s and All Saints. This is the biggest church in Derbyshire and it is unusual because it has a twisted spire.
When they finished building the church in 1362 they built the spire on top of the bell tower. The spire is about 69 metres high and it twists nearly three metres from its true centre. They originally made the spire with wooden tiles, but today the tiles are made from lead and because of this it is very heavy. It weighs about 33 tons and it isn’t attached to the tower: it stays there by its own weight.
a bad job
Some people think the spire is twisted because the craftsmen who built it weren’t very good. Another story says that the wood they used to make the tiles was too new. Nobody knows the real reason why the spire twists, but the people of Chesterfield like to tell stories about how the spire became twisted.
If you go...
- Today St Mary’s and All Saints church is a tourist attraction. If you visit the church you can go to the top of the tower and see the 10 bells there. You can also go part of the way up inside the spire. It is open most days except Sundays and Good Friday.
- Chesterfield is home to one of the oldest and biggest open markets in Britain. The market is more than 800 years old and has over 240 stalls. The stalls are in the same place as they were when the market first started in the 13th century!
- There is also a shopping centre with a good variety of shops. The shopping centre is a network of medieval streets that are called The Shambles and here you can find The Royal Oak, which is one of the oldest pubs in Britain.
- An alternative to shopping is a trip on the Chesterfield Canal.
like a virgin
One legend says that it happened when a virgin got married in the church. They say that the church was very surprised that the bride was a real virgin and the spire turned round to look at her. People say that the spire will straighten up again when another real virgin gets married in the church!
THE DEVIL
Another famous story blames the devil. It says that one day the devil wanted to go to London, but on the way he was very tired, so he decided to rest. He sat down on the spire and wrapped his tail round it. People like to blame the devil and a different legend says that one day a blacksmith was giving the devil some new shoes. When the blacksmith put the shoes on the devil he hurt him and the devil jumped over the spire in pain. He didn’t jump high enough and he knocked the spire by mistake. That is why it is twisted!
