Amateur dowser turns up the heat

Vistors can once again bask in the warmth of the cathedral's welcome

An amateur dowser has brought salvation to one of the country's hottest cathedrals after a heating crisis threatened to cool the aisles.

Temperatures at Sheffield Cathedral plummeted over the festive season when the system sprung a leak somewhere under the vast floor of the nave.

The dowser, whose identity is unknown, heard about the problem and used his unusual skills to pinpoint its source.

Engineers later isolated the leak exactly where he said it would be.

Cathedral spokesman Nick Howe told BBC Radio Sheffield the cathedral was one of the warmest in the country as the heating was always on.

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And he said they thought they were going to be in for a "bleak and cold midwinter" when the problems started.

"The centre part of the church was possibly the worst place the leak could have been," he said.

"We didn't advertise for a dowser but one happened to be in the cathedral and thought he'd try and find it.

"He did whatever dowsers do and found a place in the middle of the nave and just said 'I think it's here'.

"The engineers came in a few days later and discovered it was in that place and now we have heating back again.

"I think perhaps we'll turn to him first next time."