Lentorama 2022: It Happened on Easter

Day 12: The central tower of Elgin Cathedral collapses

This sounds like a bad thing to have happen on Easter Sunday, and it would have been much worse if the cathedral had actually been holding services. By the time the central tower collapsed on April 5, 1711, Elgin Cathedral hadn't been used for religious purposes for about 150 years.

The cathedral was built in the 13th century, and was rebuild and expanded three times in its first 150 years after fires. It continued to grow until the Scottish Reformation in 1560, at which point the official church of Scotland became Protestant, and Catholic services were banned. The cathedral could only be used for religious purposes if it became a parish church, and as there was already a parish church in Elgin the cathedral was abandoned. It was given to the burgh of Elgin for use in education or for the poor, but not much was made of it and it eventually reverted to the crown.

From there the building went into decline, aided by the removal of the lead seals in the roof for use as ammunition (which never happened, as the ship that was transporting the lead sank in Aberdeen harbor). Part of the roof would later collapse, and its thought the cathedral's rose window was destroyed by forces loyal to Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate. So it's not fully surprising that the central tower would collapse. Once that happened the stone was harvested for other building projects. 

The ruins of the cathedral still stand near Elgin and are open to visitors.