Organ of St Mary's Church (Tickhill)

The Brindley organ in St Mary's Church, Tickhill, Yorkshire, England is a Victorian instrument influenced by the German organ building tradition.

History

The plaque of 1857 names the builder as Charles Brindley. The instrument at St Mary’s was one of the first organs he completed.

The middle of the 19th century was a period of tremendous change and development. The railway network was branching out over the countryside, and came to Doncaster in 1848. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a showcase of talent. One of the exhibits there was an instrument made by a German organ builder, one Edmund Schulze.

Prior to the Great Exhibition the English Church Organ was a small affair compared with its European counterpart. At Tickhill there had been a ‘finger’ organ since 1831. This, in its turn, had replaced the minstrels who led the worship from a gallery situated at the West End of the church. Few organs in the English Parish Church in the mid-19th century could cope with the great European tradition of organ music (the Bachs and Buxtehude). It must have been clear to Edmund Schulze soon after his arrival in England in 1851 that in the instrument he brought to the Great Exhibition he had something new to offer. Enter Charles Brindley.

Charles Brindley had been trained in the family business of installing domestic call bell systems in large houses. The method of operating these systems was an action consisting of wires and levers, a type of mechanical or tracker action not dissimilar to an action used in organ movements.

It seems likely that Brindley met Schulze at the Great Exhibition. He certainly went to Paulinzelle in Germany to learn the art of organ building. Especially the flute pipes (in German called Hohlflote, Gedackt or Rohrflote) took on a new sound with German scale and voicing techniques.

Brindley began his own organ building business in Carver Street, Sheffield on 1 January 1854. St Mary’s specification shows the Schulze influence. For the first time in the English Church organ we see a complete Diapason chorus from 8 ft to 4 rank Mixture.

An earlier commission for Brindley was for a temporary organ for the Parish Church of St George, Doncaster. The medieval church was destroyed by fire at the end of February 1853. Plans were soon made for a three manual organ to be made, accompanying first the services held in the Grammar School (Thorne Road) and then rebuilt in the church for its rededication in October 1858. After the completion of the five manual instrument by Edmund Schulze at St George’s in 1862, the Brindley organ was sold to the newly built St James Church.

Following the success of the Doncaster organ Brindley was asked to build an organ for Tickhill. Although remedial work has been done on the action, blower and console, the original pipework still sounds week by week.

Original specification

Pre-centenary rebuilding

The organ was rebuilt twice before its centenary. In 1896 Brindley and Foster rebuilt and repositioned the organ, moving it to the Laughton Chapel (the North chapel, now known as St Helen's Chapel). A new oak case was given by Mrs Curtis a descendent of the Laughton family.

In 1937 Wood Wordsworth of Leeds removed the organ again, this time into a position behind the choir on the South side of the chancel where it remains today. The blower was electrified; Until this time it was hand blown.

Post-centenary rebuilding

At the time of the centenary the organ was in a poor state, especially the old tracker action and in 1965 the firm of J. W. Walker (London) rebuilt the instrument at the huge cost of £4409. The work included new tracker action to the manuals (except lowest octave on the Swell which was electro-pneumatic), electro-pneumatic action to the pedals, new console, balanced Swell pedal, extended Pedal stops, new Open Diapason on the Swell and new Thumb and Toe pistons.

The opening recital was given by Brian Runnett (Norwich Cathedral) on 27 November 1965.

By 1985 the experimental wire tracking action had become unreliable and was completely restored to original wood with solenoid assistance for the Swell to Great coupler. The bellows were re-leathered and the soundboards were overhauled. New stops were added to the Great:

• Flautina 2' placed on the slide of the former Clarion which was removed in 1965
• Sesquialtera (12.17) placed on the Clarinet slide

The work was done by John Clough (Bradford) in whose care the organ remains today. The opening recital was given by Dr Francis Jackson (York Minster) on 21 October 1985.

Towards the end of the century a new 28 point capture system was installed and the stop positions altered to reflect the growing specification. Preparations were made for future additions which to date include:

• Fifteenth (rank of pipes at the front of the Swell box) (2002)
• Double Trumpet on the Pedal organ (2007)

This now gives a very comprehensive range of stops with which to accompany regular worship and provides scope for the extended repertoire for recitals.

Current specification

Organists

References

• Marsden, John (2007). "History of the Organ 1857-2007", Church published pamphlet.