Man dies on 290ft Carlisle’s Dixon’s Chimney after getting ‘trapped’ at top

Man found hanging from tower confirmed to be local in his 50s

A man who spent 14 hours hanging from the top of a 290ft chimney in Carlisle has died, police have confirmed.

The man in his 50s was brought down by fire and rescue services after more spending more than half a day hanging from the structure.

Officers confirmed the local resident had passed away before the rescue could take place.

Shirtless throughout the ordeal, the man hanging upside down by his legs from the top of Dixon’s Chimney, a former cotton mill tower. Officers were first called to the scene in the early hours of Monday morning.

It is currently unclear what led the man to scale the structure – a Grade II listed building raised in 1836 when it was the largest chimney in the country.

Superintendent Matt Kennerley of Cumbria Police said: “Paramedics confirmed the man, in his 50s and from Carlisle, as deceased at the scene at 16:46. The man was reported to be trapped at about 2:20am today, and a rescue operation was launched while a multi-agency group was later convened.”

A helicopter, a drone and a cherry picker were all deployed to recover the man, who is yet to be named by police.

Fire chiefs at Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service were forced to make a public appeal for an aerial work platform capable of reaching the man. One was later brought to the scene from Glasgow.

Supt Kennerley added: “All agencies worked as quickly as possible to try to rescue the man.”

Welfare officers from Cumbria Police are understood to be with the man’s family.

Police confirmed an investigation will now begin into how and why the man ended up atop the structure.