16/10/2015 Church of St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield

Crag Martin: This was my 2nd UK Crag Martin, after the Flamborough bird in 2014.

However this time the bird gave us better views and the weather was a lot better too, which is strange to say considering how bad the weather has been recently, but today it was glorious if a little chilly.
Damion and I set off from Wigan around 9am and had to wait a couple of hours before the bird decided to show itself.








The church is a pretty awesome building with it's striking spire with many controversial theories to why it is crooked. One of which brings the virtue of the local ladies in to question, as it says that whilst resting on the spire the Devil twisted round in surprise because the bride was a virgin.

The reality to why the spire is crooked is not as cool, it is believed that the twisting of the spire was caused by the lead that covers the spire. The lead causes this twisting phenomenon, because when the sun shines during the day the south side of the tower heats up, causing the lead there to expand at a greater rate than that of the north side of the tower, resulting in unequal expansion and contraction.

This was compounded by the weight of the lead (approx. 33 tons) which the spire's bracing was not originally designed to bear.

Either way the spire looked even more impressive with a Crag Martin zooming around it!