Obs. Also spire steeple. [SPIRE sb.1] A steeple surmounted by a spire; a church spire; = SPIRE sb.1 8. (Common from c. 1610 to c. 1725.)
1559. Morwyng, Evonym., 78. Upon this necke standeth the head of brasse with a top like a spire steple.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 700. A very faire Church [at Ripon],… with three high spire-steeples.
1635–56. Cowley, Davideis, Notes 59. A Pyramide is a Figure broad beneath, and smaller and sharper by degrees upward, ’till it end in a Point, like our Spire-Steeples.
1725. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 70. This Councill … being very desirous … to erect a convenient church, with a proper spire steeple.
1784. R. Bage, Barham Downs, I. 7. From the window of the parlour … I have a view of a tall spire-steeple.
1809. Coleridge, Friend, 23 Nov., 223. An instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches in flat countries with spire-steeples.
