Gradually, spires became taller, slimmer, and more complex in form. The spire could be constructed of masonry, as at Salisbury Cathedral, or of wood covered with lead, as at Notre-Dame de Paris. The Gothic church spire originated in the 12th century as a simple, four-sided pyramidal structure on top of a church tower. The Flamboyant Gothic North Tower (finished 1513) (left) and older South Tower (1144–1150) (right) This sense of the word spire is attested in English since the 1590s, spir having been used in Middle Low German since the 14th century, a form related to the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass. Small or short spires are known as spikes, spirelets, or flèches. The former solution is known as a broach spire. Since towers supporting spires are usually square, square-plan spires emerge directly from the tower's walls, but octagonal spires either called for a pyramidal transition section called a broach at the spire's base, or else freed spaces around the tower's summit for decorative elements like pinnacles.
Spires are typically built of stonework or brickwork, or else of timber structure with metal cladding, ceramic tiling, shingles, or slates on the exterior. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape.
Spire of Salisbury Cathedral (completed 1320) (404 feet (123 metres), with tower and spire)Ī spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples.
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