ST. PAUL'S PARISH CHURCH, STALYBRIDGE

The church was consecrated in 1839 but St Paul’s, Staley did not acquire an organ until 1843 when James Wilkinson of Brookfield House, Stalybridge presented the church with one built by William Hill of London at a cost of £360 excepting carriage. James Wilkinson offered the organ on condition that the church raised sufficient funds for a Vicarage and Church Clock - clearly, the organ was a sort of incentive. The details are shown in Hill's letter-book (1839, Vol.1 page 71 and September 1843, pp. 100, 146 and 183). It was a modest two-manual instrument in a general swell box, which would have been hand blown,and was to be situated on the West Gallery. Hill went through a period of interest in total enclosure from around 1843 to 1853 (that is totally enclosed in a box with shutters completely controlling all the organ - similar to the design of a cinema organ ), the organ at St Peter’s, Ashton-under-Lyne is built on this principle. St Paul’s organ was quite possibly the first of these, other examples include All Saints, Gorton Square, London (1846) and his exhibit at the 1851 Exhibition. Hill is known to have built 13 totally enclosed instruments.

In 1851 the Earl of Stamford generously gave a plot of land in Richmond Street on which six houses were built with the aid of a mortgage which was repaid in full in 1866. The rent for each house at the time was nine pounds per annum and the net proceeds were to pay for an organist and choir.

Hill's influence in the Manchester area was stimulated by the efforts of J.W. Fraser, a Manchester merchant who derived inspiration from Hill's Coronation organ which found its way to St John’s Chester towards the end of 1838 (Ex Westminster Abbey). A chamber organ was built for Mr Fraser in 1839 in which Hill introduced his Cornopean stop, and then he went on to build an organ for St Luke’s, Cheetham Hill. Manchester.

The Revd H.J. Gauntlett was rector and an organist of repute and the basic ideas for St Luke’s were founded upon the Chester organ and blossomed into something more radical with Hill's new family of "German Flutes" being first used in this instrument. The Hill organ proposed in 1843 for Ashton-under-Lyne Parish Church was of moderate size, and upon the advice of H.J. Gauntlett, this idea was abandoned as being unsuitable for the poor acoustics in the building, so he designed what was to be the largest parish church organ at that time of 48 speaking stops which contained 7 mixtures and which was installed in 1845. I am sure that The Revd Mr. Gauntlett would have also been involved with the organ at St Paul’s.

The stop list of the 1843 was: LOWER MANUAL (CC-F3)
Bourdon    Tenoroon	16***	Wald Flute	4 c
Open Diapason	8	Twelfth	2 2/3
Stopped Diapason	8	Fifteenth	2
Quint	5 1/8	Sesquialtera
Principal	4	Cornopean	8
		Cremona	8 c
UPPER (ten. C-f3)		PEDAL
Dulciana	8	Bourdon no pipes, extended from Lower Manual***
Principal	4	3 Composition Pedals
Oboe	8
All enclosed in a general swell box and hand blown
		St Peter Upon Cornhill. The console of the 1840 organ which is now preserved in the Organ Gallery. This would have been similar to St Pauls, but, of course, had a larger specification

In the 1870s, there was considerable re ordering of the building with the addition of a new chancel and sanctuary together with transepts, and the opportunity was taken to remove the organ from the west gallery to the south side of the chancel and enlarge the instrument to three manuals, this was jointly paid for by Ralph Bailey of Cocker Hill, Thomas Harrison of West Hill, James J. Wilkinson of Brookfield House, and Robert Wilkinson of Huyton, the work being undertaken by Thomas Hill. The enlarged building was re-opened on September 5th, 1874.

The general swell box was abandoned and the organ took on a more conventional style. In 1930 after 56 years service and considering the amount of sulphur from the railway which ran less than a quarter of a mile from St Paul’s, together with the industrial pollution in the air, the organ would have been in very poor condition. The tracker action was removed and Hill, Norman and Beard fitted a tubular pneumatic system and restored the instrument at a cost of £734 (H,N & B Letter Book Vol.8 page 234). No changes to the specification were made, this work was undertaken in memory of John Lawton. J.P. of Thornleigh. In 1936, new blowing apparatus for paid for by Alderman Greenwood. In 1961, Cyril Wood of Ashton under Lyne restored the organ and made a number of changes, Gerald Lee who worked on the instrument, was unfortunately killed on his motor bike before the work was completed. In 1988 George Sixsmith & Son of Mossley restored the organ again mainly due to the unreliability of the tubular pneumatic action. A solid state capture system was installed together with some small tonal alterations, but the organ still remains largely in its 1874 form.

The specification of the 1874 organ was:

Compas. CC
              G

(The pedal Bourdon being borrowed from the Great Bourdon).

The instrument was opened by the St Paul’s organist, Enos Andrew on the 5th September 1874 while on Tuesday, 8th September, W.T. Best, city organist at St George’s Hall, Liverpool and organist of St Hillary’s, Wallasey, gave a recital, which included the first performance of his own “Fantasia on a Chorale.” There was criticism that the opening of the Swell Box was intrusive and visible to the congregation, following which a set of dummy pipes were fitted to hide the Swell Box from view.

In 1961, the Great Cone Gamba, renamed Open Diapason, was moved to the Choir, as was the Swell Dulciana, making the Keraulophon and Viol d’ Amour redundant. A second hand small Open Diapason was placed on the Great together with an ex Forster & Andrews Hohl flote which replaced the Stopped Diapason. An ex Wadsworth Viola de Gamba took the place of the Dulciana on the Swell, and the Alexandra Young Clarinet from Mottram Church (see 'The Organs of Longdendale', Musical Opinion, September 1977) took over from the Choir Cremona. Some extensions on the Pedal organ providing 8 foot stops from the two 16 ft flutes, and 16 ft extension of the Great reed, were also made.

The specification following the restoration by Cyril Wood in 1961 was:

In 1988 George Sixsmith of Mossley carried out work at a cost of around £30,000 which included cleaning and removing most of the Pneumatic action and replacing this with a capture system of his own design, the Swell Mixture was revoiced, the whole instrument being cleaned. Unfortunately, the problem with poor wind supply was not addressed and on three quarters full organ this was causing problems. A piston which did not at all match the existing named Great to Pedal Combinations was fitted.

The specification following the work by George Sixsmith in 1988 was:

In 2009, the final stage of the restoration of the church building was due to start and it was known that the organ would have to be removed to deal with dry rot in the organ chamber. A number of organ builders were contacted about the project, and on the advice of the Diocesan Architect, the firm of David Wells of Liverpool was engaged and the work began in September 2010. Most of the organ was removed at least to sound board level and the existing capture system scrapped and a new and much improved system, manufactured by A J and L Taylor UK Limited of Ramsbottom, installed. The cost of this work was anticipated to be around £70,000.

The organ specification following work by David Wells Ltd, of Liverpool in 2010/2011 is:

The result is that the organ is still largely Hill, incorporating the work of two generations, the Great 1874 and the Swell 1843. The 1843 chorus is not however untouched which is a pity, although it has been rescalled.

The present Swell therefore gives some idea of what Hill had in mind with the total enclosure organ, though the full impact of the chorus is lost through the revoicing and the lack of the 5 1/3 ft Quint which was removed in 1874, a chorus ingredient which William Hill obviously felt to be important and which he provided consistently from the 1840s through to the early 1860s.

The reordering of the building in 1995, which led to the creation of the St Paul's Centre, did raise some concerns about how this would affect the organ, but, fortunately, this does not seem to have interfered too much with the instrument.

The organ is satisfying to play and listen to, it has a modest but bold sound with more than a touch of quality about it and still retains its Victorian values. The work undertaken in 2010/2011 has greatly enhanced the instrument and considerably improved its volume and playing capabilities.

The clergy, wardens, PCC and people of St Paul's are to be congratulated on agreeing to the work on the organ at a time when funds are under pressure. The restored instument will encourage a standard of music which the church can be proud of. We should also note the help which David Wells and Gordon Blackledge of David Wells Organ Builders, Ltd. have given and the work they have carried out to bring the story of St Paul's organ this present happy stage.

The Revd H.J Gauntlett was a prolific hymn tune composer which included the tunes St George, St Albinus, Hawkshurst, St Alphege, University College, Fulberts (Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem) Laudate Dominum (O praise Ye The Lord) his favourite and certainly one of mine is the most loved Irby (Once in Royal David's City).

©Roger Firth, November 2011