High Blantyre’s Other Cross

I uncovered this old photograph taken 106 years ago in 1907 and something immediately puzzled me. The photo is clearly High Blantyre Old Parish Church but there’s a metal cross at the top of the steeple, which in today’s scene is not there anymore.

Working in construction i know that engineers determined by WW2 such metal protrusions attracted lightening, so generally buildings now don’t have such metal spires or spikes. When was this removed? Was it removed for safety or damaged in a storm? I would be interested if anybody knows more.

Interestingly, the church at not even 50 years old in this photo looks new, un-weathered and certainly must have been one of the grandest buildings in Blantyre. Mature trees now surround it, but the picture is very familiar and generally unchanged otherwise.