History of St Thomas' Organ
The organ was built in 1888 and replaced a small harmonium. It was erected by Mr Alfred Monk of 550 Holloway Road, London, and it cost £542 5s. Hitherto, there had never been an organ in Goring Parish Church. A newspaper account of the opening recital (given by Mr James Hallé, the organist of St Barnabas’ Church, Kentish Town, London) included the comment that the parishioners had every reason to be proud of their new instrument, They had indeed.
Initial Specification
The organ was enclosed in a handsome oak case and had two fronts, one in the chancel displaying pipes of spotted metal, the other in the aisle showing decorated pipes. The instrument had three manuals (as it still does) and, at the time of the recital, had the following specification:
|
Great |
Swell |
Choir |
Pedal |
|
Open Diapason 8 ft |
Violin Diapason 8 |
Lieblich Gedact 8 |
Open Bass 16 |
|
Clarabella 8 |
Rohr Flote 8 |
Dulciana 8 |
Bourdon 16 |
|
Principal 4 |
Lieblich Flote 4 |
Flauto Traverse 4 |
Violoncello 8 |
|
Piccolo 2 |
Mixture (three ranks) |
Clarionet 8 |
|
|
Trumpet 8 |
Horn 8 |
|
|
|
|
Oboe 8 |
|
|
Two stops were added to the Great soon afterwards (Gamba 8, Flute Harmonique 4). The organ was cleaned and improved in 1904, when the existing keyboards were replaced with three new manuals in oak frames and three stops were added to the Swell (Echo Gamba, Voix Celeste and Gemshorn).
Rebuild
The instrument was rebuilt by Bishop and Son of London in 1930 and was then considered the finest organ for many miles around. This is still the case today. The restoration was carried out in memory of Mr H. A. L. Smith who was organist from 1888 until his death in 1925. During the restoration, electro-pneumatic action was installed.
A further restoration of the organ was carried out in 1962, when all the electrical contacts were replaced, the multi-contact switch units were renewed and the drawstop machines, under-actions and Pedal chests were re-leathered and re-valved. On Wednesday 9 January 1963, soon after the restoration was completed, an organ recital was given by Maxwell G. Menzies, Organist of Portsmouth Cathedral.
An inspection in December 1991 revealed woodworm damage to both the trunk that supplied wind to the Great Organ and to adjacent woodwork. This was treated successfully.
Clean & Repair
The most recent restoration of the organ was carried out by Bishop and Son in late 1999 and early 2000, at a cost of £19,840 (more than thirty times the cost of the original instrument!). The organ was cleaned thoroughly and repairs were made to electrical connections, leatherwork and other parts of the instrument. The pipes of the Great Fifteenth were replaced and the Tremulant was brought back into service.