The Organ
In March 1923 an offer of £800 was made to buy the redundant organ from St John's Church, Glasgow but this offer was unsuccessful. Thus it was decided to commission the present organ from Henry Willis & Sons and Lewis & Co. Ltd under the supervision of Herbert Walton of Glasgow Cathedral. It was completed in 1924 at a total cost of £2,309. The two manuals are CC to c3, 61 notes, and the 'Willis' pedal board is CCC to F, 30 notes.
[In 1919 Lewis & Co Ltd, the company started by Thomas Christopher Lewis in 1860/1 and which traded initially as T. C. Lewis, entered into a merger with Henry Willis & Sons. Due to the legal difficulty of a partnership taking over a limited company the combined firm traded for somewhat less than five years as Henry Willis & Sons and Lewis & Co Ltd until, in 1925, the Lewis name disappeared.]
In 1934 the organ was cleaned and overhauled by Willis at a cost of £57:10s:0d and two years later it was suggested that the console should be reversed but due to the poor financial state of the congregation this idea was rejected. Originally the instrument was blown by a hydraulic engine with hydraulic starter at the console but in 1956 during another overhaul by Willis (at a cost of £319) a 'Discus' electric blower costing an additional £150 was installed. The organ was last cleaned and overhauled by Willis in 1986. In October 1993 the maintenance contract was taken over by Harrison & Harrison Ltd of Durham. In all respects other than the Discus blower the organ remains today exactly as built and in June 2011 we were delighted to be awarded a Class II* Historic Organ Certificate by the British Institute of Organ Studies.
Specification
Great
1 Lieblich Bordun 16'
2 Open Diapason No 1 8'
3 Open Diapason No 2 8'
4 Claribel Flute 8'
5 Dulciana 8'
6 Flute Harmonique 4'
7 Principal 4'
8 Fifteenth 2'
xxi Swell to Great
xxii Swell to Great Octave
xxiii Swell to Great Sub Octave
Swell
9 Geigen Diapason 8'
10 Lieblich Gedacht 8'
11 Echo Viole 8'
12 Voix Celestes 8' from C
13 Octave Geigen 4'
14 Harmonics III breaks back
15 Contra Oboe 16' extended up 1 octave
16 Cornopean 8'
xxiv Octave
xxv Sub Octave
xxvi Unison Off
xxvii Tremulant
Pedal
17 Resultant Bass 32' derived
18 Open Diapason 16'
19 Sub Bass 16' from no. 1
20 Flute 8' derived
xxviii Swell to Pedal
xxix Great to Pedal
3 mechanical combination pedals to Great & Pedal
3 mechanical combination pedals to Swell
Reversible mechanical pedal - Great to Pedal
Mechanical pedal - Swell Contra Oboe 16' + Octave + Unison Off
Mechanical swell pedal - all Swell ranks enclosed
Action: Willis Patent Tubular Pneumatic (exhaust system) throughout
The organ has 1,116 speaking pipes; the display pipes you can see are the Pedal Open Diapason. The biggest pipes are about 12 inches (30cm) wide and 16 feet (5m) high. The smallest ones are just a ¼ inch (6mm) wide and 2½ inches (6½cm) tall.
The pipes for the Swell manual are all enclosed in the swell box, which necessitates some fancy "plumbing".
