ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century, the spires and towers of historic church buildings will require the correction of structural problems that are minimally intrusive on the historic fabric of the building and that correct these problems with solutions that have as long a life as possible. The success of the tower and spire at Salisbury Cathedral in surviving for 700 years provides an excellent example of how to apply evolutionary technology to secure the structural integrity of what is a stateof-the-art spire structure while still maintaining the architectural fabric and beauty. Salisbury also provides an important case study of the need, when preserving sophisticated structures, to approach the duties of conservation pragmatically to find a balance between the advantages of modern technologies and the conservation goals that strive to minimize intervention. It is this pragmatism in Salisbury’s history that may indeed be the key factor in its survival while so many other medieval spires have disappeared or required complete rebuilding.
