The Spire The Spire The Spire is a 1964 novel by the English author William Golding. "A dark and powerful portrait of one man's will", it deals with the construction of the 404-foot high spire loosely based on Salisbury Cathedral; the vision of the fictional Dean Jocelin. In this novel, William Golding utilises stream of consciousness writing with an omniscient but increasingly fallible narrator. Jocelin, the Dean of the cathedral, directs the construction of a towering spire funded by his aunt, Lady Alison, a mistress of the former King. The project is carried on against the advice of many, and in particular
Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Construction commenced in 1072 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1548), and the first building to hold that title after the Great Pyramid of Giza. The central spire collapsed in 1548 and was not rebuilt. The cathedral is the third largest in Britain (in floor area) at around , after St Paul's and York