History of St Philips Organ

HISTORY OF THE ORGAN

1890

A two manual hand blown pipe organ, built by John Nicholson at the Organ Works, Palace Yard, Worcester, was installed in the church.

1951

The hand blower was replaced with an electric blower.

1988

It now became clear the organ needed a new lease of life. Trevor Tipple, organ builder from worcester was awarded the contract to completely overhaul and clean the instrument and certain modifications were made at the same time to brighten the sound using high quality reconditioned pipework.

These Modifications were:-

On the Swell Organ the Open Diapason and the Wald Flute were replaced with a Principal 4ft and a mixture II ranks and on the Great Organ the Clarabella and the Dulciana were replaced with a stopped Flute 8ft and a Fifteenth 2ft.

1997

When further funds became available a Trumpet stop was added in place of the oboe on the Swell organ.

2004

In 1988 the pedal board had been cleaned and reset. However by 2004 it was past its best, so with the approval of the DCC a brand new one was installed and the stops converted to solid state. This allowed for the inclusion of a 32ft Sub Bass stop to be installed electronically. The total cost of the rebuild and tonal additions amounted to £11,792.00.

2009

A new adjustable organ bench was purchased from Renatus Ltd, Bideford, Devon. This was to replace the old bench which had become unreliable.