We were recently asked to carry out a survey on St. James’ church in Dry Doddington. The church is a Grade II listed building dating from the 12th century,  the church has seen several alterations throughout its 900 years, with a tower being added in the early 14th-century.  The church underwent significant restoration in 1876-7 the roof was raised to its present level but the tower is thought not to have moved until the late 19th or early 20th century. It was underpinned in 1919.

Our survey centred solely on the tower, which had a clear and obvious lean in a westerly direction.  Upon completion, we ascertained that the tower had a lean of 5.1°, which is greater than the leaning tower of Pisa that currently has a tilt of 3.97°.  Unfortunately as of yet no historical documents have been found that showed the lean on the tower when it was underpinned. However, Mr Mike Hines found paperwork from a quinquennial Inspection from the 1990s, which stated the tower had a lean of 5.1°, which our results replicated which confirms up to now the underpinning has been a success.