The following is part of the information found on the framed description of the organ which is at the back of the organ, opposite the wardrobes for the choir robes.
The organ was probably built by Nicholson’s of Worcester in 1840’s and was presented by Miss Raymond-Barker, daughter of the “Lord of the Manor”. In 1854 the organ was resited in the South chapel by Nicholson’s at cost of £407. In 1938 an electric blower was installed but gave considerable trouble. The present blower dates from 1945 and this is still in use in 1990*. In the 1950’s the tracker action was renewed by Degens and Bradbeer of Northampton and they added a “Twelfth” to the Great. In 1986 Nicholson’s again rebuilt the organ at a cost of £21,000. A “Trumpet” and “Mixture” were added to the Great and a “Sesquialtera” to the Swell organ. Because of the limited space other stops had to be removed to make room. A new electrified soundboard was added to the Pedal organ and this allowed the use of some old pipework to provide the new Pedal Stops.
The present specification of the organ is :-
Pedal organ | Great organ | Swell organ |
Bourdon 16 (original) | Open diapason 8 | Open diapason 8 |
Open Wood 16 (original) | Clarabella 8 | Salicional 8 |
Principal 8 (Ex Great) | Principal 4 | Lieblich geteckt 8 |
Bass flute 8 (New 1886) | Harmonic flute 4 | Gemshorn 4 |
Choral bass (Ex Great) | Twelfth 2-2/3 | Piccolo 2 |
Fifteenth 2 | Sesquialtera 11 (New 1986) | |
Mixture 11 – 1/11 (New 1986) | Oboe 8 | |
Trumpet 8 (New 1986) | ||
Sw/Ped & Gt/Ped couplers | Sw/Gt coupler | Balanced Swell pedal |
* A new blower was fitted in 2016 during the repair to the organ’s broken Great Soundboard and Bellows. During the repair the opportunity was taken to restore it to full working condition.