As
far as we know a barrel organ was the first organ in St. Swithun’s. It was
erected by Flight and Robson, of 101 St Martins Lane, London in the west end
gallery in 1825. It had five stops - Open Diapason, Stopped Diapason, Principal,
Twelfth and Fifteenth - and, including three barrels playing thirty "sacred
tunes", cost £210. An extra barrel playing the Hallelujah Chorus and a
Coronation Anthem was purchased for 14 guineas. The choir and the schoolchildren
sat either side of the instrument.
The congregation, in their box pews, turned to face
the gallery for the singing of the hymns and psalms, a custom dating from the
advent of gallery bands which provided the musical accompaniment for services in
the absence of an organ.
When the Rev. Charles
Walter Payne Crawfurd moved to East Court in 1863 he took exception to the
barrel organ and collected funds for a new "finger" organ. Mr Crawfurd was by
way of a country gentleman but took a leading role in the civic and church life
of the town. The new organ, a single manual tracker with pedals by Messrs
Bevington & Sons of Soho London, was erected against the north wall at the west
end of the nave near the Cranston memorials. It was probably too heavy for the
gallery. It is likely that it had seven stops - Bourdon 16, Diapason 8, Stopped
Wood 8, Dulciana (TC) 8, Principal 4 & Fifteenth 2 - and would have cost about
£130. Again the choir was seated either side of the instrument although the
school children remained in the gallery.
In 1878 the Bevington was moved to the east end of the north aisle as part of
the reseating and refurbishment instituted by the incumbent the Rev. D. Y.
Blakiston. This included the removal of the box pews in the nave, the
appropriation of the eastern bay of the nave as the chancel and the fitting of
gas lighting. In 1883 a partially complete organ by Messrs Walker and Sons,
London, used in the convent refractory of the Society of St Margaret, Hackenden,
was presented to St Swithun’s by the mother superior when the society’s new
chapel was provided with a Willis. Funds were raised by St Swithun’s
parishioners and in 1888 the Walker, enlarged and completed at a cost of £400,
replaced the Bevington, which was sold for £25 to the Brighton Work House where
the town’s former Relieving Officer’s daughter was matron.
The Walker, a tracker,
comprised a 6 stop great, 8 stop swell and a Bourdon 16 pedal stop. Mr Blakiston
undertook the decoration of the pipes on south and west fronts with gold leaf
and artists’ colours. Four of the pipes from the Walker are displayed in the
Chapel of the Nativity, together with the plaque recording the provenance of the
organ and decorative motifs, which was affixed to the organ case. By 1935 the
Walker, which remained hand blown throughout its life, had fallen into a state
of disrepair and it was thought best to replace it with a modern instrument.
Messrs Morgan and Smith of Brighton were commissioned with the construction and
supply of a new three manual organ incorporating much of the Walker pipe work.
The work necessitated the strengthening of the west gallery but released
sufficient space for an additional chapel, where the console now stands. The
instrument which cost £2,500 was dedicated on 28 April 1937. The ceremony was
followed by a recital by Mr Walter Vale, organist of All Saints, Margaret Street
who had advised the PCC on the specification.
The instrument was well received and apart from tuning
and cleaning remained in good condition until the late 1980s when the
deterioration of the silk covered wiring resulted in frequent ciphers and piston
failures. In 1993, following the inevitable agonising over an electronic option,
the PCC awarded a contract for the cleaning and refurbishment of the instrument
to F H Browne & Sons (Organ Builders) of Ash, Canterbury who had been
recommended by Morgan and Smith who were unable to take on the job.
The instrument was
rewired and a multiplex transmission system fitted plus new contacts and stop
keys and a solid state sixty-four channel piston memory system. The original
specification was retained with the exception of the recasting of the swell
mixture from 12.(15).17.22 to 22.26.29 and the provision of six general pistons
and a general cancel. The cost, including ancillary electrical works and VAT
totalled £42,600. The work was completed in December 1995.
As
far as we know a barrel organ was the first organ in St. Swithun’s. It was
erected by Flight and Robson, of 101 St Martins Lane, London in the west end
gallery in 1825. It had five stops - Open Diapason, Stopped Diapason, Principal,
Twelfth and Fifteenth - and, including three barrels playing thirty "sacred
tunes", cost £210. An extra barrel playing the Hallelujah Chorus and a
Coronation Anthem was purchased for 14 guineas. The choir and the schoolchildren
sat either side of the instrument.