The Minster Church of St. Peter Ad Vincula (St. Peter in Chains) was built in Stoke by Trubshaw and Johnson from 1826-1830 and renovated inside in 1888.
The City of Stoke-on-Trent has no Cathedral. However, St Peter ad Vincula is its historic and civic church. It was granted the status of a Minster in 2005 by the Bishop of Lichfield in recognition that Stoke Minster fulfills the ‘cathedral’ role in this city.
The name "Stoke" comes from an Old English word meaning "a place", signifying a holy place. A Saxon cross survives in the churchyard, suggesting that this was an ancient sacred site. The first wooden Church was replaced in the year 805. Early 19th Century illustrations of Stoke Old Church show a stone-built structure which mostly dates from the 13th Century, with the addition of a 14th Century tower.
By the 1820's Stoke Church was no longer large enough to accommodate its growing congregation. In 1826 the foundations were laid for the present Church, to be finally consecrated in 1830.
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The Organ.
The organ in Stoke Minster was built in 1899 by James Jepson Binns of Bramley, Leeds, as a house organ for the Master Potter Henry J. Johnson, for his home in Oulton near Stone. It was later moved to Westwood Hall, Leek, where it was installed in his music room. (
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In 1921, Johnson generously donated the organ to St Peter's Church as a memorial to Reginald Tavernor Johnson and Charles Challinor Watson, who were members of his family who had died during the Great War.
The organ was erected on the west gallery, where the space available meant that the entire instrument could be accommodated within the main case, although the swell box can be seen above the casework.
Although it looks as though the instrument was built for its present position, there are clues as to its origins - the initials HJJ and the date 1899 were carved in the casework above the console. There are also carvings on the case of mythical creatures playing musical instruments which indicate the organ's secular past.
After fifty years of service in the church the organ was in need of considerable work, and a complete programme of rebuilding was carried out by J.W. Walker & Sons of Brandon, Suffolk, completed in 1972.
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Information Leaflet: (
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Details about the organ (A00301) can be found on The National Pipe Organ Register (NPOR) V2.16 at the following link; (
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Recitals giving the opportunity to listen to the Binns/Walker organ, take place on one Saturday each month from 12:00 to 12:54. Admission is FREE and there are refreshments served from 11:30am.
Details of the 2017 programme can be found at the following link; (
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