ORGANS IN & AROUND CHESTERFIELD

CHRIST CHURCH, STONEGRAVELS

"In 1869, Christ Church in the parish of Holy Trinity, was erected to aid in supplying the spiritual requirements of the thickly populated district of Stonegravels", according to a contemporary account. In 1913/14 the small stone building had aisles added to enlarge its capacity and was given its own parish; it was evidently a church "to which very many people go regularly, with more satisfaction than they formerly derived from grumbling in their chimney corners at home."

The organ is said to have begun life as a single-manual instrument; the name of Brindley & Foster has been suggested as a possible builder, and a plaque in memory of a curate in charge from 1875-84 suggests the latter date for the original organ. A second manual was subsequently added, and the organ was rebuilt by Bower & Dunn (Sheffield) in 1922. It is the only three-manual organ known to have been built by B&D, and their largest work.

GREAT
     8       Open Diapason Major
     8       Open Diapason Minor
     8       Claribel                1-24 stopped
     8       Stop Diapason
     8       Dulciana
     4       Principal
     4       Flute
     2       Piccolo
 
SWELL
    16       Double Diapason        1-30 from pedal Bourdon; 57 & 58 play 8ft. Gedact
     8       Gedact
     8       Viol d'Gamba           top 2 notes play 8ft. Gedact
     8       Voix Celeste           1-12 grooved
     4       Gemshorn
     8       Cornopean
     8       Oboe                   tc
     8       Clarionet              10-49 only
             Tremulant
 
CHOIR
     8       Violin Diapason
     8       Hohl Flute              1-19 stopped
     8       Salicional
     4       Harmonic Flute          1-12 stopped
             spare
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Bass Flute              extension; 1-18 only.
 
Couplers: 6 unison; Swell 8ve, Swell sub8ve, Great 8ve, Great sub8ve.
Balanced pedal to Swell.
Compass: 58/30.

The instrument is at the east end of the south aisle; there are silvered pipe-racks facing chancel (above left) and south nave aisle (above right), with displays of narrow-scale diapason pipes. The console is attached in the south choir.

The organ was given electric action by Chalmers & Hyde in about 1974. It was presumably at this time that the pipes of the Piccolo were removed, and that the Clarionet was transferred from Choir to Swell (involving a small windchest clamped to the back wall of the swell box, and the top of the swell box ripped open to permit the tops of the Clarionet pipes to protrude through). The stop-action is now electric; presumably some mechanical composition pedals were removed, as the instrument now has no combination action.

 

Despite many tonal and mechanical infelicities, I am very fond of this instrument. Its eccentric tonal scheme poses many challenges to the player, and it has great musical potential. The stoplist cannot convey its idiosyncratic nature. The most unusual feature is the layout of the instrument. Choir is at the front, speaking directly into the chancel, and sounds bold and direct. Great is behind it, tonally retiring in comparison. Swell is behind Great, with the Pedal bourdons at the rear. Thus the Choir Violin Diapason is the loudest diapason in the instrument, with a keen, full timbre. It is complemented by the foundational, woody Hohl Flute and the softly edgy Salicional. The Great diapasons are woolier and flutier in tone, though not unattractive; the Principal is soft, with a gemshorn-like timbre. The Claribel matches the Swell Cornopean in volume; it is an extremely assertive, hard-toned solo stop. The Swell division contains in effect one bombarde reed and a group of soft colour registers. One wonders whether an 8ft. diapason has been removed to make way for the Clarionet; its absence is most uncharacteristic in this style of instrument.

Perhaps the unusual nature of the tonal scheme can be better appreciated if the stoplist is set out in tabular form; ranks at the top are loudest, those at the bottom softest. I have renamed the divisions in accordance with their position and importance; and the stops are renamed according to their character and function, in a manner not too dissimilar from some of the more colourful Bower & Dunn nomenclature.

FRONT (encl.)       MIDDLE (unencl.)       REAR (encl.)         PEDAL  

                    8 Tibia Major          8 Harmonic Horn
8 Major Geigen      8 Major Diapason
8 Hohl Flute        8 Major Gedact                              16 Bourdon (unit)
8 Salicional        8 Minor Diapason       8 Viol
                    4 Minor Principal      4 Minor Principal
                    4 Open Flute           8 Oboe
                                           8 Clarinet Dolce
4 Harmonic Flute    8 Dulciana             8 Minor Gedact
                                           8 Viol Celeste

The organ as it stands has many faults. The attack and release of the Great pipes is poor; they appear not to speak comfortably on the electric action, a common problem with conversions from tubular-pneumatic. Both Great diapasons abruptly change timbre from tenor F downwards to a hard, 'hungry' tone, suggesting poor scaling, poor materials, or re-used pipes from other sources. Tonal regulation throughout the instrument is faulty, and many top and bottom octaves are uncontrolled. The Swell 16ft. borrow is, unsurprisingly, not a success. One 16ft. Bourdon is not an adequate complement of Pedal basses (the limitation was space: see also All Saints, Heath for a similar situation).

But set against all this the intriguing versatility of this organ; it has real soul and character. Bringing into play the rarely-found Great octave and suboctave couplers (1922 work), a wide variety of ensembles is possible, with very subtle gradations. As Norman Cocker wrote about another instrument, it encourages us to "learn to think organically in quite an unusual manner". I have greatly enjoyed playing it; I have been teased by its demands to re-think many ingrained habits of registration, andhave often been surprised at the success of the result.

Some modern electric actions are notoriously short-lived; when the time comes for this organ to need substantial work, I sincerely hope that it may be restored to full voice.

(I am grateful to Dennis Broomhead, organist at Christ Church for many years, for historical information about the organ.)

PICTURE CREDITS
Photographs by Nigel Tilley, 1991

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