The Spire

Last week I was briefly in the Close of Salisbury Cathedral - what an amazing place to live. I had forgotten that William Golding had lived and worked here. His 1964 novel The Spire I remember reading when it was brand new.

The Plot: Jocelin, the dean of the cathedral, directs the construction of a towering spire against the advice of many, and in particular the warnings of the master builder, Roger Mason. The cathedral has insufficient foundations to support a spire of the magnificence demanded by Jocelin, but he believes he has been chosen by God to erect a great spire to exalt the town and to bring its people closer to God.

Of course it ends in tears!

This is not the spire of Salisbury - rather more modest it belongs to Christ Church Morningside in Edinburgh.