THE CATHEDRAL SPIRE.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7143, 3 September 1888, Page 5

THE CATHEDRAL SPIRE.

A REMINISCE* CE AND AN EXAMPLE. [By a Loves of Church Abchitectcri:.] When I walked through Ctithedral square on Saturday, aud saw the crowds of people, eazinjz ruefully at the damage done to the beautiful spire, of which we were all so proud, and heard the expressions of evidently heart-felt sorrow that were falling from the lips of nearly every iooker-011. uiv thoughts were carried back to a still greater calamity which happened to an even more beautiful Cathedral spire in the Old Country. Anybody who has been in the South of England will at once call to mind Chichester Cathedral, with its beautiful double aisles, and its exquisite spire, about 300 ft high. The famous spire of Salisbury is higher, but no Sussex man at any rate would ever admit that the proportions of the latter were so perfect as of that which reared its arrowy shape on the Sussex weald, and formed a striking landmark to mariners far out at sea. Ah to the exact age of the spire, I am not able to speak definitely, but it was over 500 years old, the Cathedral having been re-built by Bishop SeHrid during the lath century. In the year 1861 a dire calamity befels the Hue old city to which reference has been made. It was discovered that th e beautiful spire was showing alarming symptoms of decay. It was not long after the appointment of Dr W. F. Hook as Dean, and popular rumour declared that some "restorations" in which the Dean had been very active had contributed ye largely to the imminent danger which was now threatening the spire. In particular it was said that the removal of some old monuments unde r the tower had materially weakened the supports on which the spire rested. As to the truth of this, I am Dot in a position to say, but the Dean's own statement was that he merely continued a work which was begun before he came, and even if he did commit an error of judgment, it will be seen that he atoned for it nobly afterwards. The spire, as I have said, was known to be in the most imminent danger. On the 18th February, 1861, Dean Hook wrote to his cousin, Vice-Chancellor Wood (afterwards Lord Hatherley), as follows:—"Yesterday after service the builder informed us that he could not answer for the security of the fabric f or an hour. The men worked all night; a hundred workmen arrived this morning. Immense beams have been sent, and we are propping the tower with timber, and if we can succeed in doing this we shall then be able to build up the four centre piers." A night or two afterwards there was a terrible storm. Fifty men were at work in the tower all night, and although the spire swayed iearfullr, strange to say.it withstood the violence of the gale. Yet all efforts to save it were in vain. The end, however, when ib did come, came calmly and peacefully, as befitted the good old age and venerable character of trie structure. About one o'clock in the day on February 22nd, when the workmen knew that the struggle was in vain and had left the building, the spire fell; Mrs Hook, from the front of the Deanery, saw it reel and then come down. It sank down gently, like the shutting up of a telescope, and people say that eot a stone fell outside the Cathedral building. Mrs Hook went into the study at the back of the house and told the Dean, who had retired there, knowing what must happen. He was leaning over his table, sobbing, his face buried in his hands. . The Dean was not the only man in the In the Cathedral city who shed tears on that day. We can imagine the feelings of the inhabitants, especially the old people. They had played round the Cathedral - in childhood, and had looked up at the great spire with awe, yet at the same thue feeling a kind of protection in its presence. In their old age, in the eventide, when it was gilded by the setting sun, and when they saw it transfigured with glory, and pointing heavenward, it spoke to them of a future hope and joy. No wonder that they could hardly believe their eyes when they turned them in the direction in which they so often gazed with fond affection and found their old friend had gone. 'No j wonder that the whole city was steeped in grief, the like of which could hardly have been drawn forth by any other public calamity which could have befallen them. The Dean did not rest cahtent with bemoanirig the disaster, nor did the citizens either. Dr. Hock, writing on the same day to the Vice - Chancellor, said:— " One thing I have determined. I •will rebuild the spire if I. beg j my bread, if God will preserve mc i alive for the seven years which remain j till lam three score and ten." He kept ) liis word. He at once gave - £1000 out of his own pocket towards the costj and he rested nor day nor night till the spire was rebuilt, as beautiful and as imposing as ever, by that prince of ecclesiastical architects, fair Gilbert to whose original designs we owe our own Christchurch Cathedral: The cost was enoroiouß, no less than £50,000. But at apublic meeting held a few days after the disaster" £14,300 was subscribed in the room. The Cathedral was reopened on the 14th .November, Ito7, and the good Dean lived to sue the day. It is hardly necessary tor mc to point out the moral of this story. Fortunately it will not take anything* like £50,ikjo to make our beautiful* spire once .more the pride ai*<2 de'ighfc, not only of-every resident in Canterbury, but even of the I colonists at large, in its ■ present' , -mn ti-i lated condition it -is alinesfc « move painful sight to gaze upon than it it had been entirely destroyed. Experts seem to agree that it can be rebuilt in a way that will enable it to defy any earthquake shocks it is, humanly speaking, likely to meet with. I sincerely hope, therefore, that, the public will come forward with subscriptions to repair the spire, and that once more we shall see its graceful outline tapering against the sky in all its pristine beauty.