SPIRE (in German, Spitx, or Therm-pinta ; iu French, Fkche), in Gothic architecture, is used to designate the tapering pyramidal mass erected on a tower by way of finish and ornament. The origin of the spire, like that of the pointed arch, is merely matter of conjecture. The probability is that it arose out of the peaked roof usually given to campaniles and towers of a preceding period, which form was after wards gradually improved upon and refined, till it eventually grew up into the slender tapering spire. The tower of Than church, Normandy, engraved 'under NORMAN AscnrrscruaE, may be referred to as an example exhibiting the rudiments of the spire, it being no more than a steep peaked roof or low pyramid, whose height does not exceed three-fourths of its base. A peak of this kind differs also from the spire both in being the same in plan as the tower on which it is placed, and in being immediately set upon it, whereas the spire is almost invariably an octagon or other polygon, and is surrounded at its base with a parapet. In Italy, where campaniles are usually detached square towers of very slender or lofty proportions, the spire is almost unknown, for such towers have seldom more than a mere pyramidal roof or peak. There are some few instances of square spires ; among them a very singular one at Egeln in Germany, where two such spires are set immediately together upon the same tower. But however slender in their proportions such spires may otherwise be, they have a certain heavy massiveness of form. When therefore greater loftiness and'lightness were aimed at in this feature, the adoption of a polygonal plan for it became almost matter of course; for although in a geo metrical drawing the general outline and proportions of a spire are the same whether it be square or octangular in plan, the perspective or actual appearance is widely different ; because in the latter case the diagonal breadth of the square tower below is cut off, and each side or plane of which the spire is composed becomes a much more pointed triangle. Besides which, the polygonal spire produces a degree of contrast and variety highly favourable to general effect in the Pointed style.
A gradual and progressive transition from the mere peak or pyra midal roof to the slender tapering spire, taquaot, however, be clearly traced. On the contrary, some of the earliest deviations from the simple pyramidal form appear to have produced uncouthness rather than lightness ; for although much greater loftiness upon the whole • was so occasioned, the appearance of it was reduced by the sides of the tower being made to terminate in gables cutting into, and therefore partly cutting off, the bane of the pyramid or spire itself. Many of the earlier German edifices contain examples of this peculiarity—one almost confined to them ; among others the cathedrals of Worms and Gelnhausen, the church at Andernach, and that of the Apostles at Cologne, exhibit many varieties of spires, or rather spire-roofs, springing up from gables at their base : and in some the gables are so large, and rise up so high, that the appearance of spire is almost entirely lost. Such is the case with the pyramidal covering of the square tower at the west end of the church at Gelnhausen, of which the portion above the gable forms a mere capping. In this country the spires in the First Pointed, or Early English style, were usually much less acute than in those of the Second Pointed period, when this feature arrived at its greatest perfection both in design and decoration. The outline
of spires of this Second Pointed period is commonly very graceful and refined, a well-eonsidered entasis being often given : the spires of Salisbury Cathedral and St. Mary's Church, Oxford, are well known and admirable examples of this period.
Spires vary much in character. In this country a spire set imme diately upon a tower without any parapet, &e., at its base, is technically described by the term broach. There are indeed so many peculiarities in spires, that it is highly desirable to have descriptive terms for them. First, as regards its base, a spire may be said to be cluster-based when surrounded below with pinnacles connected with it, and from among which it seems to spring up ; of which kind St. Mary's, Oxford, is a celebrated example. The HOtel-de-Ville, at Ypres, has a spire clustered with four exceedingly tall pinnacles or lesser spires. Where there are windows placed against a spire, rising upright like the dormers or ]ucarnes ou a roof, the term Lucarned would express that character ; we have therefore not scrupled to make use of it in the annexed table of spires, where it is applied, among others, to those of Lichfield cathedral, which have several tiers of such windows, and are described accordingly. Where the height does not exceed two diameters of its base a spire might not inconveniently be termed a stump-spire. Crocketed and banded are terms requiring no explanation ; but in regard to the first it may be remarked, that spires, otherwise quite plain, are sometimes ornamented with crockets along their edges ; and with respect to bands, they are sometimea little more than string-mouldings, but in other cases broad and enriched surfaces. Many of the spires in Normandy are ornamented with such a number of bands, that they form alter nating courses with the plain spaces between them. Fin jailed is a term which does not apply to any of our English spires ; hut that of St. Stephen's, Vienna, and some other continental spires, have au exceedingly large and rich finial, which ornament gives them a par ticular boldness of expression. The Tabernacle-spire also is one of which there is no example in this country, but of which the one just men tioned, and those of Strasburg, Ulm (as designed), Thann in Alsace, and many others, are specimens, the tower and spire being carried up from the ground in a succession of diminishing stages, all profusely adorned with pannelling, niches, canopies, pinnacles, and other taber nacle-work, in such a manner that it is barely possible to distinguish where the upright portion or tower terminates, and the spire itself begins, the latter seeming little more than the uppermost stage in con tinuation of the rest. Neither have we any instances of Open-work spires, or of such as, if not actually perforated, are yet entirely covered with tracery. That at Freybnrg, and those at Burgos and Batalha, are exceedingly rich specimens of the kind. The chapter-house of Burgos also has a series of very large pinnacles or small spires of tabernacle character. Cambrai and Esslingen on the Neckar afford other examples of open-work spires.