St Mary’s church in Chesterfield.

St Mary’s church in the town of Chesterfield in the county of Derbyshire, U.K is the largest parish church in the county which dates back to the fourteenth century. It stands apart from other churches due to the leaning and twisted spire which has been described as “the most famous architectural distortion north of Pisa”. The spire is 228ft tall and leans over 7.5ft, the reason the spire has developed this odd position is not fully understood but it has been speculated that it may have been caused through using unseasoned timbers during its construction, this along with the lead cladding which was added to it increasing its weight may have caused it to assume this shape. In the 19th century the spire was declared unsafe and plans were made to have it demolished, however the local population objected to this and in the end the tower was reinforced to make it safe.

It is inevitable that such a strange shaped tower will attract legends regarding its unusual appearance, one such story was told by S.O. Addy in 1895 :with reference to the crooked tower of Chesterfield church, people say that the first pair married in the church were very innocent, and that caused the steeple to be crooked. They also say that the next innocent pair to get married will make the steeple straight again. The implications of this statement meant that it was difficult to find an innocent couple in Chesterfield!

Another story connected with this crooked steeple is that it was caused by the Devil sitting on the spire and it twisted when he bowed to a virtuous bride as she was entering the church, as he turned, so the spire turned with him. Yet another variation on this story is that the Devil was resting with his tail wrapped around the spire when a whiff of incense caused him to sneeze, this caused him to convulse and resulted in the spire twisting.

A different and unusual story connected with this church is that of the Dun cow of Dunsmore Heath, this was said to be a savage beast which was slain by Sir Guy, the Earl of Warwick, a huge tusk, probably that of an elephant is still on show at Harwich castle and was said to be one of the horns of the Dun cow. The story goes that the cow belonged to a giant and was kept on Mitchell Fold in Shropshire. Its milk was said to be inexhaustible, but one day an old woman who had filled her pail wanted to fill her sieve, this caused the cow to break loose from the fold and wandered on Dunsmore Heath before it was eventually killed by Sir Guy. One of the ribs from this magical cow is said to have previously been on display in Chesterfield church and was said to have measured over seven feet in length, it was in all probability the jaw bone of a small whale.