Metal Theft from Little Staughton Church

Damaged spire in the churchyard - copyright All Saints Little Staughton

Metal theft has been recorded at All Saints from the early 1800’s to the present day. In the 1830’s the thieves were stealing lead. Copper thieves were active in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2006 the top off the spire was pulled down when copper thieves attached the thick copper lightning conductor to a vehicle and metal thieves were heard trying to remove copper sheet from the south chapel roof a few years later. The top of the spire has been replaced (2007, at a cost of circa. £40,000) and the copper on the south chapel roof has now been replaced with stainless steel. The Church is now illuminated at night to try and deter metal thieves.