A man found hanging upside down and trapped by one leg at the top of an approximately 290ft chimney in northwest England has died, police have confirmed.

Paramedics pronounced the man, in his fifties and from Carlisle, deceased at the scene at 16:46 local time, Cumbria Police said in a statement.

Footage shows a helicopter hovering above the Dixon Chimney in Carlisle on Monday morning (October 28) and the outline of a figure, upside down with his legs in the air, at the top.

Subsequent footage shows police using a drone camera to assess the situation, a cherry picker arriving at the scene and emergency crews retrieving the man.