The Leaning Tower

This is perhaps one of the more interesting "Pisa-Like" phenomenon of the church which many visitors to Burnham come to see. It was Richard Locke; notable surveyor of his time, who may have been the first to record the fact in 1784, and estimated that -

"A line let down from its top, appears to overstand towards the north by 3 feet" -

This can be computed to be about 1.5 degrees. Whether this has increased over the years has never been assessed but opinion has it that there has been no further movement since the initial settling after the completion of the 14th century rebuilding. However, further settlement must have occurred as remedial work was executed in 1778 under the direction of Churchwarden John Lock when several cart loads of pavior from quarries at Catcott, with timber, clay and lyme were brought to the church to raise the belfry.