Church Organ - St Nicholas - South Kilworth, Leicestershire - Musical Instruments on Waymarking.com

Church organ in St Nicholas' church, South Kilworth.

"Builders

by 1953 this organ had pedals, Bourdon, and electric blowing added, and
the remains of the barrel organ taken out"

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"To the left of the chancel arch, just within the south aisle, stands the organ, presented to the church in 1846 by Revd. Dr. William Pearson, LLD., FRS. The instrument, a chamber organ, presumably from a private house, was built by William Gray circa 1795 – 1815. During its stay at South Kilworth, it has been modified more than once. An all-enclosing Swell-box had been added and later removed, a pedalboard and Bourdon stop added and the wind pressure raised to accommodate this. Unfortunately, this had an adverse effect on the voicing of the existing stops. During those operations, the mahogany casework had been adapted to accommodate the changes In 1991, a Faculty was granted for the “cleaning and restoration of William Gray Chamber Organ to a state as near to the original as possible” by John E Clark Esq., of Brighton, (later Melton Mowbray). Fortunately, research revealed that an organ built by brothers Robert and William Gray in 1790 still existed at Burghley House, Stamford and furthermore, a William Gray organ of very similar specification to our own, dating from 1808 and in almost original condition was found in St. Bostolph’s Church in Trunch, Norfolk. It was therefore considered feasible to restore the South Kilworth organ and its casework to near original condition. The Pedal organ together with the Bourdon pipes were removed, the casework restored and a “nag’s head” Swell-box replaced, containing an Oboe stop of thirty pipes, copied from the Trunch organ. The mechanism of a “Shifting Movement”, operating on Principal, Flute and Fifteenth stops, was restored to working condition. Wind pressure was reduced from 3 3/8 to 2 ½ inches water-gauge pressure, providing a sweet tone throughout. Much of the pipework was identified as original Gray and could speak again at the lower wind-pressure with minimal adjustment. 30 pipes from a later Open Diapason, attributed possibly to Elliott and Hill, were removed and are displayed in a glass case in the north aisle. The organ, now electrically blown, is in regular use for services. The board hanging on the west wall of the tower commemorates the gift (mentioned above) of a “finger organ with two barrels for psalmody”. These were probably part of a “dumb organist”, unfortunately long since lost, which could be attached over the keyboard to play metric psalms in the absence of an organist. The holes where the brackets fitted are still to be seen in the casework of the organ. The instrument is considered to be of significance as a surviving example of a typical George III period domestic organ."

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