Nottingham St George

Organ

The organ The decorated
canopy
The organ with
decoration by Bodley		 The original organ
case design by Bodley

The organ is located in the chancel set half way up the north wall. Its original site in 1895 was on the south side of the church where the Lady Chapel now stands. Its highly decorated casing designed by Bodley was completed in 1906. It was redecorated in 1962 as a memorial to Arthur Richards, a former organist, obscuring the original Bodley scheme. A plaque on the upper part of the casing gives the name of the original builder and the date of installation: J. W. Walker & Sons, London, 1895. The cost was £520 which was mainly donated by Mr. Henry Gee.

Another plaque above the keyboard names a local organ builder, Henry Willis & Sons Ltd., 1964, the date when upgrading and maintenance was carried out.

The stops are:

Swell

Great

 16 double diapason

8 Open diapason

8 open Diapason

8 Dulciana

8 Stopped Diapson

8 Wald flute

8 echo Gamba

4 Principal

16 Stopped Diapson

4 Nason flute

8 Voix Celestes

2.2/3 Nazard

4 Principal

2 Fifteenth

Mixture 3 RKS

8 Posuane

8 Trumpet

 

8 Oboe

 

Couplers

Pedal

Spare Hole

16 Bourdon

Great to pedal

8 Bass flute

Swell to pedal

4 Octave flute

Swell to great

 

Spare hole

 

Swell octave

 
Chamber organ

In 1924 an oak-cased chamber organ was donated to the church by a supporter of the church, Dr. William Stafford. It is believed to date from the late 17th century and is attributed to a maker called Avery (1755-1807). It now sits at the east end of the north side choir stall in the chancel.

The organ was restored in 1993 which involved reconstructing the original stoplist but leaving the pitch and compass as found. The organ has Stopped Diapason, Principal, Fifteenth and treble Comet (twelfth and tierce). The pipes are all of wood; the Fifteenth and Comet are reconstructions. Some of the present Principal is made up of original Fifteenth pipes but, because of the difficulties of lengthening wooden pipes, they were left in place, and the pitch and compass were also left unaltered. The compass is D to d3 (originally C AA D to c3) and the Comet starts at d#1 (originally c#1). The pitch is a1 = 448Hz at 16°C, but was originally a semitone higher. The organ is now tuned in fifth-comma meantone. Some of the keys are 18th century and the bellows are late 19th century; otherwise the organ has its original parts, though much repaired.