Cathedral Spire

2004 is the 100th Anniversary of Rochester Cathedral's spire

The year 2004 will, in the Rochester Diocese, be dominated by the anniversary of the founding of the Diocese in 604. However a more recent and more obvious anniversary is the spire of the cathedral which was completed in 1904.

It appears that the very first spire was erected at the expense of Bishop Hamo de Hythe who raised the tower to accommodate four bells, aptly named Dunstan, Paulinus, Ythamar and Lanfranc, and topped it with a steeple. The shape is uncertain as artists depicted it in various styles. There are no repairs recorded on this structure until a report of 1679 suggested its state of repair was such, that a complete rebuild was required. As this would be expensive another carpenter was employed who recommended that repair and strengthening, a much cheaper option, would suffice. This work was carried out in 1680 and it extended the spires life a further 69 years when an octagonal spire was constructed. ‘It had neither parapets nor pinnacles to hide the transition from the square to the octagonal, nor splaying to make the change less abrupt.’

In 1825 the structure was removed so that the central crossing tower, which was in an extremely dangerous condition, could have its lower storey recased and a new upper stage built. The architect, Cottingham, topped his new tower with four corner pinnacles instead of a spire. His design did not meet with general approval, this even before it was rendered more insignificant in appearance by Sir Gilbert Scott’s heightening of the transept roofs in the 1880s.

In 1903 the Dean, Rev. Samuel Reynolds Hole, was raising money for repairs to the Cathedral and its organ. One can imagine his delight when in July local builder Thomas Hellyer Foord gave £5000 to be spent on the fabric and an extra 500 guineas toward the organ. In his letter of thanks the Dean suggested that Cottingham’s Tower, regarded by most as a deformity, should be rebuilt. The new architect, Charles Hodgson Fowler, had already produced plans and an estimated costing of £4200 as it had been falsely hoped the ‘Masons’ would provide the funding for the project. Work was quickly put in hand.

One year later, the Dean at 85 was close to the end of his life but was able to sit in the Deanery garden and watch the new tower of the cathedral grow. Although weak he persuaded the Archbishop to attend the dedication and took an active interest in the guest list and the arrangements. He lived long enough to see the whole outline completed, so that he could picture it finished. The dedication was in November of 1904 and the tower and steeple remain almost as dedicated. While work was going on Mr Foord paid for two extra bells to be hung and four were recast. The architect had expected Mr Foord to be unhappy with the spires height, and he was, but Hodgson Fowler felt that to have made it as large as the donor assumed it would be, would have put too much strain on the medieval piers of the crossing.

In 199 when the spire was re-leaded, the President, his son and I were given permission to climb the scaffold to the weather vane. It was on a glorious June morning of the Dickens Festival and we leant on the rails and watched the city gradually come to life. One of life’s pleasures not to be missed.