- 16 - The Church Organ

History At Saint Mary's, we are fortunate in having one of the most complete and versatile organs in the diocese.The organ was originally built by John Gray of London in 1822 and enlarged by Gray & Davison in 1846 – these details are from the Gray & Davison ledgers. It is not entirely clear what happened thereafter. Hill estimated for a new organ in 1871, but nothing save tuning shows up in the Gray & Davison books between then and 1899. A report on the organ dating from the 1940s describes the instrument as having been worked on by Porritt (presumably Porritt of Leicester) and Rushworth & Dreaper Ltd. One of these two evidently fitted a pneumatic action, part of which is still in use.

The next major work was the rebuild in the 1950s by the John Compton Organ Company of Acton , London . This work introduced the electro-pneumatic action, and put the organ into its present arrangement, with the Choir section facing down the north aisle and the console in the south aisle of the nave. In 1992, David Wells, the Organ builders replaced the Compton ageing and sluggish combination piston system was replaced with a computerised sixteen level capture system which makes it possible for the organist to store and retrieve a large number of registration settings quickly and easily. At the same time, the console was renovated and updated.

At the present time, David Wells, the Organ builders are restoring the Great soundboard and the Pedal drawstop machine (Sep 2004).

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