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Dear Enthusiast

Welcome to St Mary's, Beverley. East Yorkshire!

In this church you will find one of the finest instruments in the UK. The first record of an organ in this church goes back to 1792 when an instrument was installed in the old rood loft which was above where the choir sings today. This instrument was brought down and placed in the North Transept during the great rebuild of the inside of the building in the 1860's. Pugin's faculty of 1844 had them remove all the lofts and galleries about the church to restore it to its previous splendour. This work was completed by Gilbert-Scott in the late 1860's after Pugin's death. The organ was rebuilt by Forster and Andrews in 1868 and had a carved oak screen by Gilbert-Scott.

For many years the organ remained untouched until, through decay, it became totally unplayable, the major cause of which was the gas stoves that heated the church at that time. The stoves were mostly open topped and gave off noxious fumes that rotted the bellows and purses, until the instrument finally gave up. The Churchwardens had been given adequate warning of this by the organist at that time, C C Doorly, but they chose to ignore him until it was too late.

1907 saw the rebuild by Lewis of London when the organ was taken away and rebuilt at their works. Many of the old pipes were used but unfortunately in the specification for the job all the pipes had to be painted grey to match the spotted metal of the Lewis pipes and the decorated oak screen by Gilbert-Scott disappeared.

The specification by Lewis and the more recent by Hall and Broadfield a local firm that went out of existence shortly after the job was finished in 1957. During this latest work the Choir Organ was taken from where the console is today and placed in the organ chamber where it remains today. Some of the pipework goes back to 1868 and some even further, more modern pipes were installed in the last rebuild, notably the Bombard which was once a Trombone from the Central Methodist Hall.

The "New Organ" by Lewis was too big to hand blow so two mechanical blowers were installed. One was powered by a hydraulic engine which was sited in the organ chamber in the North West corner of the North Transept. The other was a gas engine with a Watson Watkin blower and sited in the crypt. Both blowers were needed to operate the organ. An electric blower was installed in the 1930's and is still in place today.

In 1993 the console was renovated by Rushworth and Dreaper of Liverpool. This removed the old air operated stop action and replaced it with an electrical solenoid operated system. The old relays and solenoids for the pre-sets have been replaced by multiplexers and a capture system which obviate the necessity for all the wiring and piping that suffered badly from everything from rats eating the wiring, to decrepitude.

We have (in 1995/6) refurbished the Choir and Great soundboards and many of the stop motors. We now have all departments operating, occasionally there may be an odd note missing from a couple of pedal stops but this can only be noticed by the most discerning listener.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you are passing or feel the need to give a recital.

We continue to raise money to renovate the organ and use the instrument whenever possible to this end. We can arrange for the instrument to be available at almost any time given sufficient notice. It can be played most weekdays when the church is open during the day, or evenings by arrangement.

Alan Binnington	Organist	alan@binningtonjab.freeserve.co.uk
Chris Hairsine	Appeals' Co-ordinator

Last updated 10 July 2001