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The Walker Organ at Emmanuel Church,
Sidlow Bridge
The
original 1862 Walker organ comprised a single manual of several speaking
stops and was situated under the arch behind the choir stalls in the Chancel.
It was significantly enlarged in 1911 when a second manual with pipes
enclosed in a swell box was added together with a single pedal stop with
couplers. During the restoration it became clear that this enlargement was at
the expense of a mutation stop for the soundboard was found to have been
divided in two to form the swell organ. This tonal modification would be
considered detrimental by today's standards but it was done to achieve the
grand solid eloquent sounds preferred at that time. The pedal board is
unique. It is not constructed to the traditional pattern and is neither perfectly
straight nor radiating or concave. It doesn't sit under middle 'D' of the
keyboard and therefore presents the player with an unusual problem. It is
also of short compass with only 27 notes thereby rendering several pieces
unplayable. As there is ample space to permit a full register it can only be
assumed that this was a request of the resident organist at the time. The
organ has been moved twice. Initially to the very rear of the Church gallery
and then forwards to its current situation when the Upper Room was
constructed. This final location made it impossible to tune the Swell organ
and, under the recent scheme, new access has been provided into the swell box
for tuning and maintenance purposes. Following extensive fund-raising the
restoration of the organ was put in hand in January 2005. The work involved
the complete recovering of the bellows, repairs to the wind conveyances,
soundboards, keys and pedal actions and the replacement of woodworm infested
keys. The
specification of the organ is:- Great Organ Swell Organ Pedal Couplers Principal
4 Fifteenth 2 Bourdon 16 Swell to Great Wald
flute 8 Flute 4 Swell to Pedal Dulciana
4 Gamba 8 Great to
Pedal Open
Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason 8
Patrick Christian, Organ Builder Patrick
served an apprenticeship with J.W.Walker & Sons and then worked for Hill,
Norman & Beard in London and Lewes. During that time he was responsible
for the tuning and maintenance of the organs in many notable buildings
including The Royal Naval College at Greenwich, Southwark Cathedral, the
Queen's private Chapel and the instruments within the Chapels of the Tower of
London. With his wife, Jane, he branched on his own in 1983 and continued to look after the interests of J.W.Walker in the South of England, combining that with his own work and also the tuning and servicing contracts of three other organ companies. He currently has about 160 organs in his care including many well known instruments at Chichester Cathedral, Lancing College, Christ's Hospital School Chapel, Hurstpierpoint College Chapel and Arundel RC Cathedral. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For information about the choir click on the link
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Last updated 26/06/2006 |
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Emmanuel
Church, Sidlow Bridge UMGC / EC Home / About Us / The People / Services / Events / History / Contact Us |
