How old am I really?


How old am I really?

Dear friends, you know that I was installed by Mr William in 1911.  The pipes for my bottom keyboard were added a year later and various other missing pipes appeared during the 1930s and 1940s.

But do I have older-still pipes?

This is one of my innermost secrets, one that I know Mr Gary hopes to unravel this year.

The Abbey had its first organ in 1806.  This was built by John Gray, who was probably the finest builder of his day.  This organ had two keyboards, a few pedal notes (pedals were still uncommon in England at that time) and 797 pipes.  The Gray organ seems initially to have been built into a gallery under the tower at the west end of the building, but then moved at least twice.  By 1883 it was in the south east corner of the Abbey which, at that time, had yet to be extended to the East.  By 1891, once the new Chancel has been built, it had been moved to my present position, and recently found photographs prove that to be the case.

Mr William has a note in his 1911 order book that “available pipes from the old organ” were to be retained, and obviously the Gray organ had to be dismantled before I was installed. 

Did Mr William use some of the old organ Gray pipes? Do any of my lovely 1911 pipes actually date back to 1806?

Mr Gary and Mr Nigel are intrigued and keen to find out.  So as my pipes are all taken out this coming Easter, they will be scrutinising everything carefully for clues.

This is for me to know and you to find out!    


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear friends

Image
Dear friends The long overdue work on me has now begun, and I am being dismantled - yes, dismantled!  And no, this is not at all painful For more years than you can imagine, my pneumatics have been drying out and failing, and I have become more and more unreliable I would love always to fill this beautiful building with my rich tones, and usually that is just what I do, but not always. My many pneumatic motors are a patchwork of sticking plasters, my lovely pipes are covered with 60 years' worth of dust, and woodworm are munching their way into my timbers The day work began is a day I will always remember.  Hundreds of lead tubes were removed (for recycling), my keyboards extracted, the pedalboards removed revealing countless lost pencils and piles of dirt, my stop heads removed and the the lovely console removed But I am still here, waiting eagerly for all the work to get done so we can have that epic celebration promised by this building. I am going to look sad for...
Read more

Another spectacular recital

Image
Another spectacular recital I’ve already told you about the wonderful organists coming to play me, your friend Hillie, each month.   These are international recitalists!   They are used to playing the top organs in Great Britain and abroad.   Yet here they come, to help put me on the map, and to help raise money for my renovation and completion. The second of these organists played just recently.   This was Miss Catherine (Ennis) and she played music all about angels including one piece by my most favourite of all composers, Sir Edward Her playing was just marvellous.   She made me sound as if I was young again, and brought out all sorts of sounds I hadn’t heard in many a year And so many people had come to hear me, and hear her play.   My friends counted more than 120 people, and I’m sure there were other folk lurking in corners All that is amazing.   Also amazing is that I’m told Miss Catherine played in her winter coat.   ...
Read more

Let’s talk trunks

Image
Let’s talk trunks   Trunks and wind might not sound particularly exciting, but when your double risers and electric blowers are all moved around, this becomes a most important subject   In 1911, Mr William connected my blowing mechanism to 3 double risers and those were then connected to my windchests.   A whole series of zinc trunks made those connections   But with the passage of time, my trunks became rather the worse for wear.   Their bends began to leak (you can imagine straight trunks are a very good idea, but in practice bends are essential) but old newspaper stuffed in saved the day.   Joins too become a bit brittle, but drawing pin fixes have proved invaluable in keeping me going   After all these years, and now with my lower regions completely reshaped, my trunks too have therefore had to be given attention by Mr Gary   He told me that in these modern times, u-bends and black plastic pipes can be very effective. ...
Read more