Hi Cecil,
This is the famous Chesterfield crooked spire church which is located in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England right in the epicentre of cruck country. I used to walk past this chuch every morning on my way to work at the Bryan Donkin Company and so was privy to most of the local gossip on why this spire is crooked.
Immediate observations are that it is not only crooked but it is also spiral and it is this last observation that might be key to understanding why the spire has developed a lean.
The spire is thought to have been built just before the arrival of the black death in 1349 and lay unfinished and exposed to the elements for many years. I doubt that green timber is the primary culprit more likely the design and deformation due to eccentric loading (think reciprocal framing). We would really need to see a drawing of the spire timber work to speculate on why the spire is leaning.
This church featured on a TV programme the other evening where it was explained that students from Sheffield University are part of an ongoing monitoring project to measure out of plumb movements of the spire apex. This has already demonstrated that measurements made over the past few years indicate that the tower is still on the move.
Regards
Ken Hume
