I've been fascinated with the Chesterfield crooked spire since a kid. There's many legends about what caused the spire to be crooked including the Devil causing mischief in Chesterfield, seating himself on the spire and wrapping his tail around it. The people of the town rang the church bells and the Devil, frightened by the clamour, tried to jump away with his tail still wound about the spire, causing it to twist.
Unfortunately the actual cause of the twists is far more mundane then any of the urban legends. It is now believed that the twisting of the spire was caused by the lead that covers the spire. The lead causes this twisting phenomenon, because when the sun shines during the day the south side of the tower heats up, causing the lead there to expand at a greater rate than that of the north side of the tower, resulting in unequal expansion and contraction. This was compounded by the weight of the lead (approximately 33 tonnes) which the spire's bracing was not originally designed to bear. Also, it was common practice to use unseasoned timber at the time the spire was built, as when the wood was seasoned it was too hard to work with. When unseasoned wood was used, the craftsmen normally would have made adjustments as it was seasoning in place
