The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-08-13

az ot leaning towers and spires, says
ia most remarkable examples of these
s-raetu ures are found in Italy. Every
o.. familiar with the general appear
.Hea f the Campanile at Pisa. winch Is
$50 -ary bclfTy, just behind the cathe-
srll 1t was erected somewhere about
-E-4 of granite and marble, and IS lSI
r-et n height. but leaning actually more
-rqr fourteen feet out OF the perpendlc-
..ra- 1t is composed of eight separate !
sori,s. and forms a cylinder, surround
d near the ground with a wall, and
With half columns and arches. On each
ier above this we have arches, leaving
open galleries between them and the
,vlindrical body. Three of the stories |
ucline equally with .he ground story, /
where the lowest rows of pillars are |
sunk into the earth the fourth story is /
but little rectified the fifth and sixth |
are in one line, but inclined at an angle |
to the work below; the seventh is very |
nearly erect The tower is mounted by
35j stairs which are remarkably diSlOca-
TED. and give one the sort of feeling of
walking on the ladder of a ship in
rolling sea. In fact, the whole inclina-
tiol of the tower has been caused by
settlement of the foundations in the
soft soil, in which water-springs occur
every where at the depth of six or eight
feet. That this mas been the cause is
evident, not only from the fact that the
Observatory, in the next street. has also
declined from the perpendicular, as well
as a neighboring belfry, but we have
also q sort of record of the alteration,
for there are fresroes on the wall of the
Campo SantO neighboring cemetery,
which were executed about the year
1900, and which give representation of
the well-known tower, but a perfectly
upright position. So that it appears to
be quite clear that the inclination has
taken place gradually since that date, by
Che erasion of the ground through the
action of springs and the consequent
settlement of the structure.
Equally remarkable for their great in
clinaCiOn from the perpendicular are the
two watch-tOwers of Bologna. They
were probably erected by private fami-
lies for purposes of defence. One of
them, the Tore degli Asnelli, is very
slender tower, more than 300 feet high,
composed of work of different periods,
though begun probably about 11O9. 1t
Is asCended by 800 steps, and leans out
from the base as much as three feet two
inches according to a measurement ta-
Zen many years ago. 1t does not seem
TO have been injuriOusly affected by the
great earthquake, but to have settled
into its present state soon after its erec-
tiOn. The other, the Tore degli Carl
sendi, is only 40 feet in height, but
leans six and half feet towards the
south and one and a half feet to the
east. 1t is a thicker tower, and the fact
of its settlement is proved by the inclI-
nation of the courses of bricks and the
position of the holes for the timbers of
the floors. y few feet at the top of the
tower, like the top story of the Pisa
tower, are quite erect, and were prOba-
bly, added at later period, after Il fall
of the upper portion had occurred.
SaragOssa, in Spain, gives us another
instance of these isolated and leaning
belfrieS. The Tore NuevO was erected
in 1884, of brick, and is ascended by $50
steps. 1t leans over considerably to-
wards the church, which is on the OppO-
site side of the street. In this case it
mas been supposed that the foundations
sank during its erection, and that the
architect carried on his work, counter
balancing the weaker side i'll order to
give 1t due stability.
Besides the aforementioned cases
there are many others on the Continent
as, for example, the belfry of St Mary
Tibernica, at Venice at Revenna, and
others between FeTTare ana Venice,
most of them being isolated bell-tOwerS
connected with cathedrals, like the
DOmstoIen at Utrecht which is the bel
fry for the DOmskerk. In fact, we may
say that there are very few buildings
indeed of any antiquity, in any part of
the world, which do not lean ont Of the
perpendicular, if they are sufficiently
lofty to depress the foundation by their
weight, and to make it manifest to the
eye by their height or slender proper
tlOnS. The monument i'm London is a
case IN point, for it is by no means quite
erect; and many other towers and spires
in England, and especially in Norfolk
and Suffolk, will be found to be more or
less inclined from the upright position.
We will give some examples which We
have come across in our travels.
Some instances are evidently cases of
settlement Thus, if we stand beneath
the spire Of Salisbury Cathedral, we
shall notice that the pillars near the en-
trance To the choir have been bent by
the weight of the masonry, and are now
prOpped by inverted arches of fifteenth
century work, and of great elegance
In fact, the spire here was an addition
not contemplated by the original archi-
tect, and its weight has bent the two
western piers twenty-three inches out Of
the perpendicular. No further settle
men has, however, been detected dur.
ing the last 200 years, when the test OF
the plumb-lIne was repeated in 1S5S.-
The Temple Church at Bristol, near the
railway station, has its tower separated
from the church, and leaning, from {
similar settlement, nearly four feet out
of the perpendicular. Other instances
of settlement and leaning of the towel
occur in Spalding, SuTfleet, and Weston
in the Lincolnshire FenS, and at Bee
Hackett, in DOrSetShire. The latte
tower is seen from the railway, nea
Netminster station but we understand
that the church is soon to be restored
and the tower re-erected.
In some cases it is said that the incli
nation of the building has been produced
by lightning. Under this head we may
mention the steeple of Glasgow Cathe
dral, which was struck in 1857. and tina
of Linthwaite in Yorkshire. struck il
1885. 1t is remarkable that some of tn
many crOcketed pinnacles which adorl
All Souls College, in Oxford, are ben
away, and this is said to be due TO tn
passage of electricity down them, whicI
has twisted them out of their origina
position.
Not a few inst tances occur where tn
detection of the spiTe has been produce
by the warping of unreasonable timber
as is the case at LOweStOft But tn
most remarkable example of this kind
and the most striking case in Englan
of leaning spite, is that of Chesterfield
The structure is $50 feet high, and lean
six feet towards the south and four an
a half towards the west. In a papt
read before the Institute of Britis
Architects i'll 1855, we are told that tI
timber had evidently been used i'm gree
state, and that the oak planks suppor