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In 1925 the firm of C. Lloyd & Co. (Nottingham) proposed a new organ for the church, to cost £888:ORGANS IN & AROUND CHESTERFIELD
ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, LITTLEMOOR, NEWBOLD In about 1880 an organ by Brindley & Foster (Sheffield) was installed in the south transept, adjacent to the choir stalls. The stoplist was as follows:
GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason open wood from middle C 8 Dulciana 4 Principal 4 Harmonic Flute II Mixture 12.15 pipes marked 'Sesq' SWELL 8 Open Diapason 1-5 open wood 8 Gedact wood 8 Viol di Gamba 8 Voix Celestes 4 Gemshorn 8 Oboe PEDAL 16 Bourdon 8 Bass Flute Couplers: 3 unison; Swell 8ve. Compass: 56/30.
GREAT
8 Open Diapason
8 Hohl Flute
8 Dulciana
4 Principal
4 Harmonic Flute
8 Clarinet
SWELL
16 Bourdon 1-20 from Pedal
8 Horn Diapason wood & metal
8 Lieblich Gedact
8 Echo Gamba
8 Voix Celestes
4 Geigen Principal
8 Cornopean
8 Oboe
Tremulant
PEDAL
16 Bourdon (large scale)
16 Bourdon (small scale)
8 Bass Flute extension
Couplers: 3 unison; Swell 8ve, unison off & sub8ve; Swell 8ve to Great.
Double-acting composition pedals: 2 to Great, 2 to Swell.
Compass: 58/30.
This was an old-fashioned design for the mid-1920s, and one wonders if Lloyd was
trying to pass on a second-hand instrument rebuilt 'as new'. In any case, the estimate was
not accepted, and in 1926, for £193.10.00, the company was commissioned to clean and
overhaul the existing instrument, to add a 32ft. Acoustic Bass to Pedal, to change the Swell
Oboe for a Cornopean, to add a tremulant and a suboctave coupler to Swell.In 1957 the church was rebuilt. The south transept became a porch and the chancel became a lady-chapel. The organ was moved to the west gallery. Willis took over the tuning of the organ in 1963. In 1967 and again in 1969 they proposed some tonal alterations, but by 1970 the church was still debating the future of the organ. In 1971 they decided to replace it with the instrument from High Street Methodist, Clay Cross. Willis quoted for the work and suggested some tonal alterations, but the job was given to Wood (Huddersfield) whose tender was cheaper. When the organ was installed at Newbold a new electric action with solid-state key switching was fitted. The stoplist of the organ, which had been rebuilt at Clay Cross by Willis in 1954, was now as follows:
GREAT
8 Open Diapason
8 Stop Diapason
8 Dulciana tc
4 Principal
4 Wald Flute tc
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
8 Trumpet
SWELL
8 Geigen Diapason
8 Lieblich Gedact
8 Salicional
4 Gemshorn
II Quartane 12.15
8 Oboe
Tremulant
PEDAL
16 Bourdon
8 Flute
4 Octave Flute
Couplers: 3 unison.
Combination pedals: 3 Great, 3 Swell.
Balanced swell pedal.
Compass: 56/30.
The organ, with its gilded piperack, stood on the west gallery immediately next to a large
heater which pumped out great quantities of warm air. Unsurprisingly, by 1991 the instrument
was becoming unreliable. In that year the PCC decided to sell it and to install a digital
organ in its place. The new instrument, a Bradford Computing Organ, was dedicated in February
1992. It has 40 stops on two manuals.In 1993 the pipe organ was sold to S.R.L. Green who installed it in his home, Poulton Hall, Merseyside. Since that date a third manual, playing a solitary Orchestral Oboe, has been added, and other changes made bringing the total of speaking stops to 27. The full stoplist can be seen in the NPOR database here. (Note that the historical details in the NPOR account are partially incorrect.)
In 1942 a second-hand organ was installed by Bower & Dunn (Sheffield). It moved to the new building with the congregation in 1959, and was overhauled by Chalmers & Hyde (Dronfield) in 1989.
The stoplist is as follows:
8 Diapason
8 Gedact
8 Dolce
4 Flute stopped
2 Super Octave 1989: previously Principal 4ft.
and a stopped bass rank 1-12 permanently 'on'
PEDAL
16 Sub Bass 1-23 only
pedals permanently coupled to manuals
Trigger swell pedal.
Compass: 56/30 (straight & flat)
Mechanical action.
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All pipes except the 16ft. Sub Bass rank are enclosed. The organ occupies a small chamber
to the left of the sanctuary, and the attached console has Bower & Dunn's characteristic
large white drawstops. The pipe-rack is an asymmetrical arrangement of 11 dummies painted
a vivid blue, the tops of the pipes cut off at ceiling level.
On my visit in 1991, the Diapason showed the same infelicities as those on the Great at Christ Church, Stonegravels: the treble is unduly fluty, and the bass unduly narrow. The flutes are both good stops. The Super Octave, which replaced a 4ft. Principal in 1989, is currently too loud. The whole instrument needs careful tonal regulation, but despite that produces a sweet, appealing sound.
8 Open Diapason tc
8 Dulciana
8 Stopped Diapason bass octave permanently fixed on
4 Principal
2 Fifteenth
8 Salicional tc
Compass: 58/25.
Drawstops in a row above the manual keys.
Discus blower.
The tuning contract with Willis was terminated in 1980 as "Our church is to be closed down
and the property sold and we shall not require any further servicing of the organ". The
building is now occupied by the congregation of the Littlemoor Gospel
Chapel.