A close shave

 ‘On Tuesday sennight [a week ago] the inhabitants of Tickhill were under a serious alarm from fire which was discovered in the roof of the church, owing, it is supposed to some charcoal having been left burning in a chafing dish the preceding day by the workmen who had been employed to repair the lead. It was discovered by a person going into the church on Tuesday morning. The roof was so much burned as to melt the lead over it and some of the fire had fallen into the pews. Fortunately, from the air being excluded the fire had not broken out, which if it had done in the night, the whole building would probably have been consumed.’ (‘Leeds Intelligencer’, Monday, 26 May 1800, page 3.)