# Model-maker spends 14 years recreating Salisbury Cathedral using matchsticks – but is only half done

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/model-maker-spends-14-years-recreating-salisbury-cathedral-using-matchsticks-but-is-only-half-done/
- Published: 2026-11-09T17:16:45+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T17:34:00+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16278593/Model-maker-14-years-recreating-Salisbury-Cathedral-using-matchsticks-half-done.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- Barry King has spent 14 years building a matchstick Salisbury Cathedral.
- The model has used 1.78 million matches so far.
- He expects at least 12 more years of work.

## Summary

Barry King has spent 14 years building a matchstick replica of Salisbury Cathedral, aiming to set a world record for the largest matchstick model. The project is taking far longer than he first expected, with space, time and rising costs all slowing progress.

The 56-year-old has used 1.78 million matches and 150 litres of glue across about 6,000 hours of work, and hopes to use more than five million matches in total. He works on it around his full-time job and estimates it will take at least another 12 years; the completed model is planned to be 21ft long and 16ft wide. The current record is David Reynolds’s 2009 model of the Brent Bravo oil rig, made with four million matches.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.