'Surreal' moment St Thomas Church spire falls as Storm Eunice winds hit Wells in Somerset

• Watch moment church spire falls off St Thomas Church in Wells, Somerset

The "surreal" moment a church spire wobbles in the wind before breaking off and plummeting to the ground has been captured on camera.

The spire of St Thomas Church in Wells toppled as strong winds caused by Storm Eunice hit the Somerset city.

Matt Hodson, 17, filmed the moment. He told ITV News: "I was in my back garden and noticed the wind becoming much more violent.

"I noticed the tip of the spire was inching closer to the edge - as the wind was getting more violent I knew it might fall.

"I was shocked - it was quite a surreal moment. I didn't really expect it to actually fall - I was just filming just in case."

• Reverend Claire Townes on the moment she saw the spire collapse

Reverend Claire Townes, who is the priest in charge of St Thomas Church, said: "I literally thought to myself the church will be ok, it's been here since Victorian times - and then two, three minutes later I had a telephone call from the police."

She said the police then asked her to meet them to look at the spire because they feared it was not stable. After returning home, Rev Townes said she was looking out of her window at the moment it then fell.

"I was just making some phone calls, looking out of the window, when I just saw the top of the spire come crashing down.

"It all happened over a very short period of time, within about 20 minutes."

She said she felt "incredulous", adding: "As I said I had literally had that thought of 'oh the church will be ok'.

"To see that happening within minutes of that happening - it was a shock."

Rev Townes said she is pleased nobody was injured in the incident.

"Our first priority above everything else was 'are people ok?'," she said.

"We've lost the top of our spire and that's a huge loss, but it hasn't led to loss of life and that's the most important thing."