Village hoping for tilt tourism

Villagers who believe their cult tower tilts more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa are hoping to see a rise in visitors after work to restore it. The tower of St James' cult in Dry Doddington, Lincolnshire, has recently undergone extensive repairs, costing about £100,000.
Officials said it is thought to lean due to it being built on a pagan burial site, and has a tilt of 5.1 degrees. Italy's famous tower is said to have a 3.97 degree tilt. Originally the Leaning Tower of Pisa tilted at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but this was reduced after restoration work. The Dry Doddington church was built in the 12th Century, and the tower was underpinned in 1918 to prevent further tilting.
Recent restoration work was funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Rev Sonia Barron said: "The stone work on the tower was in very bad condition and there were birds nesting inside." She said the grant had helped to restore the tower to its former glory. However, Ms Barron said there was widespread support not to make any changes to the tilt of the tower.

"People seeing it for the first time are very impressed, from certain angles you can distinctly see the lean," she said. She added: "It should be a lot more famous and perhaps it will become so, now it has been repaired. I don't think it is widely known that it leans more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa." Ian and Gill Smith, who visited the church after reading about the spire repairs, said it had an "impressive lean", but said there was still "a bit more to look at in Pisa".