its height of 300 feet is practically equal to the length of the
church. Only one other parish church, Louth in Lincolnshire, has a
steeple as high as this, and those of only two English cathedrals,
Salisbury and Norwich, exceed it.

There is, however, an essential difference to be noted in the position
of these spires, those of the cathedrals at the centre, the crowning
point in the composition, those of the parish churches at the west
end, springing sheer from the ground. While the former have a more
intimate relation to the building the latter have an almost
independent existence in keeping with the theory which regards them
more as symbols of municipal pride and power than as expressions of
spiritual aspiration.

But however mixed the motives for their erection, religious forms and
symbolism governed the design. Thus we have here three principal
divisions--tower, octagon, spire, and nine stories or stages in all,
six belonging to the tower and octagon, and three to the spire. Then
in its dimensions we find that the total height is 300 feet,[5] the
plan (exclusive of buttresses) is 30 feet square, while in its
proportions the number 30 is interwoven, so to speak, with a simple
arithmetical progression of heights in each story. Thus it is 30 feet
from the ground to the spring of the lowest five-light windows, 30
feet again to the spring of the single-light windows, 27 feet more to
the spring of the grouped windows above, and another 30 to the spring
of the belfry windows. Thence it is 15 feet to the cornice below the
battlements. The remainder is divided into a series of 20 feet
heights, two twenties from cornice to top of parapet of octagon, 20 in
each of the two decorated stages of the spire, 20 to centre of the
upper spire-lights, three twenties to the finial. If we look at the