1814. From a newspaper of June the 5th in that year it appears, that on
the preceding Sunday morning, while the sexton of All Saints’ church,
at Stamford, was engaged in ringing the bells, two youths, named King
and Richards, through mere emulation, ascended the steeple by means of
the crotchets, or projecting stones on the outside of that beautiful and
lofty spire. The projecting stones on which they stepped in the ascent
are twenty-six in number, three feet asunder, and the summit of the
spire 152 feet from the ground. In ten or twelve minutes the feat was
performed, and the adventurers had safely descended; one of them
(Richards) having hung his waistcoat on the weathercock as a memento.
* * * * *