Talk:Truro Cathedral

Organists of St Mary's (as a parish church)

Should the list of organists include those who held the post of organist of St. Mary's before the elevation to cathedral status? The particular cases I have in mind are Charles William Hempel and Charles Frederick Hempel. The article is titled Truro Cathedral, but it does include some details of St. Mary's as a parish church. Thanks for any views on this, Carminowe of Hendra (talk) 22:46, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

List of musicians at English cathedrals

Could Carminowe of Hendra or some interested person please go over to the page listed above and make the entry on Truro Cathedral comply with the other entries, so that the list pertaining to this cathedral links to the cathedral's article.

NOTE: In the context of an article, you cannot link a heading, as I have done on this talk page, because it doesn't comply with the MOS. So what was done with the original entries was that every single cathedral had a short sentence, in which the name of the Cathedral is linked e.g. "Organists at Barchester Cathedral have included Septimus Harding." Amandajm (talk) 14:11, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the nudge - I've added a brief introduction. Carminowe of Hendra (talk) 20:22, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

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Lead image options

The cathderal's position means we are never going to get a pic of the thing in isolation

• 
  Current. Shows the setting to an extent.
• 
  Isolated down't show the tower
• 
  Wider setting cathedral ends up a bit small.

©Geni (talk) 01:24, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Number of spires

@Nedrutland, I don't want to immediately revert your reversion of my change, obviously, but given that there's no source for the claim that it has three spires, I'm not sure why leaving it as it is is better? There's a source claiming it has four spires, and that's backed up by the several pictures in the article too. Perhaps it would be better to remove any claim at all about the number of spires? kirjatoukka (talk) 12:36, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

Never mind: I've found a better source for that anyway. kirjatoukka (talk) 13:44, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

Another source for four spires: https://issuu.com/mycornwall/docs/mc70lr_final p37 "You might not realise that Truro Cathedral actually has four spires, not three" (second paragraph). kirjatoukka (talk) 14:53, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

There's 4 spires in the picture which is a great source. Four are referenced in the blog, also a source.

And the website for the cathedral itself says there are 4 spires.

https://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/history/cathedral-story/building-the-cathedral Snukkems (talk) 20:09, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

I would note that the cathedral's webpage as cited talks of the "famous three spires", it has been widely described as a three-spire cathedral (e.g."Three-Spired Cathedrals". Tamworth Herald. 21 November 1908. p. 6.), and there was even a Three Spires Festival held there in the 1980s. I would contend that the fourth small copper "spire" is incidental to the cathedral's fundamental three-spire nature. I shall endeavour to check some architecture sources in the next few days.----Pontificalibus 21:24, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

Yes, the cathedral website says "the famous three spires" and "While the three simple spires are reminiscent of a French cathedral. Truro is only one of four cathedrals in the UK with three spires". It does not say four. Truro also has a Three Spires Medical Practice, and the Three Spires Singers. DuncanHill (talk) 22:29, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

But it has four spires. Am I missing something here? ScalarKnight (talk) 04:06, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

The cathedral's own website (linked above) refers to three stone spires and a copper spire:

"Stone has been used for the roofs of the famous three spires, whilst slate has been used for the rest of the roofs of the cathedral except at the west end of St Mary’s Aisle where a copper spire sits over the bell tower."

I'm not sure where the doubt that the fourth spire is a spire comes from, when that very same source refers to it as one? kirjatoukka (talk) 14:16, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

If multiple sources are saying there's four, a NOTE (not a correction or citation) should be specified and cite these sources if they're reliable.

Example:

There are three spires.

I think there should be clarification if there is this much debate though. People have been saying the fourth is a "spirelet" and not a true spire (though some claim it to be one), these concerns should be addressed if they have been in sources, or added on to "three spires, and a spirelete (not counted towards the total of three)" or other, better wording. Chew^{(V • T • E)} 23:13, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

It does have four spires. But it is famously a "three-spire cathedral" built to a three-spire design, so perhaps we need some additional information in the article on the status of the spires to clarify this. The cathedral's own webpage currently cited in the article as a source for the fourth spire ("a copper spire sits over the bell tower") also states "Truro is only one of four cathedrals in the UK with three spires" [1] so there is clearly widespread confusion. ----Pontificalibus

What is a spire? Or, when does a spirelet or a fleche or a pyramidal roof or even a pinnacle qualify as a spire? Nedrutland (talk) 14:20, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

The sources refer to the copper spire as a spire, not a 'spirelet' or anything else. I don't pretend to know the difference, personally. kirjatoukka (talk) 14:24, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Lichfield's got a couple of little spires as well as the three famous ones. DuncanHill (talk) 14:34, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Seems a bit odd to have an image depicting it with four spires, and have the church itself call it a spire, but not call it one because they say they have only three. The listed source below (and previously in this discussion section) calls it a copper spire, but then says it has "only three" spires. Is that not contradictory?

Would it be original research to say four spires with that information, despite them saying three, because they themselves call it one, or because four are clearly visible in the pictures? SmittenGalaxy | talk! 02:31, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

References

Four or three (cathedrals)?

The lede has recently been altered to read "It is one of four cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires."

The cited source has "While the three simple spires are reminiscent of a French cathedral. Truro is only one of four cathedrals in the UK with three spires."

Until 12 Jan. the lede had "It is one of three cathedrals in the United Kingdom featuring three spires." with the footnote "the others being Lichfield Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh. Lincoln Cathedral also had three spires, originally, but the centre spire collapsed in 1549."

So, what is now the fourth UK cathedral with three spires? (@Flobberz:) Nedrutland (talk) 13:54, 13 January 2025 (UTC) Nedrutland (talk) 13:54, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Does seem to only be 3 of them as far as my research can tell. Not sure why the Cathedral's website mentions 4; perhaps it includes Lincoln. Flobberz (talk) 22:55, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Fwiw, should probably revert to that previous wording. Flobberz (talk) 22:56, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

References

Edit war

@Kirjatoukka: and @Flobberz: You both need to stop your edit warring, otherwise I will ask for you both to be page-blocked from it. I would point out that blogs and substacks and the like are absolutely NOT acceptable as reliable sources. DuncanHill (talk) 09:38, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

My most recent change was simply to remove speculation about things like "spirelet", which as far as I know has no other source outside this talk page. I don't think a talk page counts as a reliable source either, does it?

As mentioned above, there are several other sources for four spires (the cathedral's own site and a regional print magazine). kirjatoukka (talk) 09:42, 17 January 2025 (UTC)