Expert climber Chris Milford braved the howling wind and cold to dangle from a rope more than 100ft up a church spire tower.

He was helping architect Terry Hopegood get a close look at the vulnerable parts of Christ Church in Old Town without ever leaving the ground.

Chris works for Herefordshire WallWalkers, a specialist firm from Hereford-shire which allows access to tall buildings in difficult-to-reach places, without having to use expensive and cumbersome scaffolding.

Next year the church celebrates its 150th anniversary and the church council wanted to make sure it was in a good condition.

Parish administrator Elsa Palmer said: "We want to make sure the church is here for many more generations to enjoy."

While carrying out an initial assessment, Mr Hopegood, of Wyvern Architects, became concerned about some parts of the spire.

With a pair of binoculars he was able to see some erosion on the stonework, which would go some way to explaining the water penetration the church has experienced in the belfry. But he wanted to take a closer look at parts of the stonework to ensure there was no danger of masonry falling from the roof.

To build a scaffolding would have cost thousands-of-pounds, so he decided he would call the WallWalkers to get to the parts of the building which others could not reach.

Chris used a video camera to relay footage to a television which Mr Hopegood was able to study and see if there were any problems.

Mr Hopegood said: "There is definitely some erosion, but it is difficult to say exactly what the problems are up there without looking at the video in detail. It doesn't appear to be any serious damage."