The spire of St Thomas’s Church in Wells smashed onto the path below after being brought down by the strong gales caused by the storm. 

The spire fell during the storm this morning

The Vicar, the Rev Claire Towns said: “It happened mid-morning. I had no knowledge of it until the police rang me and asked if it meant to look like that.

“I went back in the house, stared at the bedroom window, and saw it fall down.

“The way it fell, it couldn’t have fallen in a better way in the sense that it fell over and landed in the park in the churchyard without touching anything and nobody was hurt, and that’s a really good thing.

“At this moment it is impossible to say how services will be affected. We are waiting for a structural engineer to come and give us a verdict.

“We have a major restoration project on our hands but there were no damages before. It came as a shock and a surprise to all of us."

Another photo showing the damages

@talkRADIO St Thomas church spire in Wells in Somerset has toppled….. pic.twitter.com/1lhVU6x1CW

— steve day (@djstay81) February 18, 2022

The vicar also said she was worried about the trees because of Storm Eunice but she thought the church was not going to be affected, as it has been there since the mid-1800, and the damages shocked everyone at the church.

Rev Claire Towns also added: “At the moment we are in emergency mode and then we will do the restoration when we know more. In terms of cost, it could be relatively small, but the effort will be phenomenal because of the height.

“I mean, it’s happened, and we just have to deal with it. But we are not at the point of making decisions about the future at the moment. We are a family, we rally around, and we will get there.” 

A team from Strachey Conservation has visited the site to collect the spire.