ORGANS IN & AROUND CHESTERFIELD

ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, PILSLEY

This church was designed by the Chesterfield architect S. Rollinson and consecrated in 1873. It is a pastiche of the Early English style, and seats about 400.

An organ was built in 1906 by

ALFRED KIRKLAND
Organ Builder
113, Cottenham Road
- London, N -

Kirkland had previously supplied organs - albeit from his Wakefield factory - to the Ridge Street and Wesleyan Methodist chapels in Pilsley.

The stoplist for St. Mary's was as follows:

GREAT
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Dulciana                   1-12 pneumatic action
     4       Principal
     4       Flute
     8       Viol d'Orchestra           sic; mechanism only - no pipes       
 
SWELL
     8       Violin Diapason
     8       Lieblich Gedeckt
     8       Vox Angelica               1-12 grooved
     8       Voix Celestes              tc
     4       Gemshorn
     8       Cornopean
     8       Oboe
             Tremulant
 
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Flute Bass
 
3 unison couplers.
Trigger pedal to Swell.
Composition pedals:  3 to Great, 3 to Swell.
Compass: 58/30.
Action: tracker to manuals; pneumatic to pedals.

The instrument stands in a chamber on the north side of the chancel. There are gilded pipe-racks in two arches; the westernmost one contains speaking diapasons, while the one to the east is merely decorative. The drawstops are on flat jambs, and the manual keys are ivory. There are two drawstops for the Great to Pedal coupler, one on each jamb; they work in tandem, so that moving one automatically moves the other.

On the occasion of my visit in August 1992 it was clear that the organ needed restorative work, but it was still in good voice. The Great diapasons were clean and bright; the Stopped Diapason good, with a woody, beaky timbre; the 4ft. Flute was better still, with an engaging, lively tone. The Swell diapasons were softer than those on Great, but similarly clean and bright. The Lieblich Gedeckt made an effective contrast with the stopped rank on Great. The softer effects were pleasing, and the tutti did not suffer from its lack of upperwork.

In 1993 the organ was overhauled by Peter Conacher & Co.; a Fifteenth was added to the spare slide on Great.

 

WESLEYAN METHODIST, PILSLEY

 

A new chapel was built in 1868, and an organ installed in 1883 at a cost of £285 by Alfred Kirkland's factory at Wakefield. In 1904 two stops were added and the organ was moved to the north transept. It was returned to its central position in 1920, and an electric blower was added in 1948.

The stoplist was given in 'Musical Opinion' for February 1905. It stated that the chapel had re-opened on December 27th 1904, and that the organ had been cleaned, remodelled and put into a new chamber by Kirkland, "who also gave a new Gamba".

GREAT
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Dulciana
     8       Gamba
     4       Principal
     4       Lieblich Flöte
     2       Fifteenth         
 
SWELL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Salicional
     8       Rohr Gedackt
     8       Viole d'Amour
     8       Voix Celestes
     4       Gemshorn
     2       Piccolo
     8       Cornopean
     8       Oboe
 
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
 
3 unison couplers.
Tremulant to each manual.

By 1995 the chapel was regularly attended by fewer than a dozen people. Major structural repairs were necessary, and the congregation was not able to meet the cost. The chapel was demolished and the organ scrapped.

 

BRIDGE STREET METHODIST, PILSLEY

This chapel contained the first of Alfred Kirkland's three organs for Pilsley. It was installed c.1860 from his Wakefield factory and had the following stoplist (taken from the records of Peter Conacher & Co., Huddersfield):

GREAT
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Stopt Bass
     8       Stopt Diapason
     8       Dolcan    
     4       Principal
     4       Flute         
 
SWELL   
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Keraulophon     
     4       Principal    
     8       Oboe
 
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
 
3 unison couplers.
2 combination pistons.
Compass: 56/30.
Action: tracker to manuals, pneumatic to pedals.

The organ was removed in 1996, and replaced by an electronic.

 

RUPERT STREET UNITED METHODIST, PILSLEY

This chapel was built in 1858. Around 1929 an undated organ by P. Conacher & Co. (Huddersfield) was acquired as a war memorial. It was thought to have come from a church in Sheffield, and was installed by Bower & Dunn at a cost of £120. The stoplist was as follows:

     8       Open Diapason                 1-12 unencl. in the front with some dummies
     8       Stopped Diapason Bass         1-12
     8       Stopped Diapason Treble       tc
     8       Dulciana                      tc
     8       Viol di Gamba                 tc
     4       Principal
     4       Wald Flöte                    tc
     2       Fifteenth
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
 
Great to Pedal.
2 composition pedals.
Compass: 56/29
Mechanical action.

All the manual pipes (except 1-12 of the Open Diapason) were enclosed in a general swell with a trigger pedal. The Viol pipes were of double-cone construction, and tuned by the ears. Note the remarkable similarity of this instrument to the 1876 Conacher at Derby Road Methodist, Chesterfield.

The church closed in 1971; the organ was removed and re-erected in a school in Leamington Spa. The school has since moved to new premises, and the fate of the organ is unknown.

SOURCES
For details of the 1993 work at St. Mary's, and the fates of the organs in the Wesleyan and Bridge Street Chapels: Rodney Tomkins, 'Historic Organs in Derbyshire' (Cromford 1998).
For historical information about St. Mary's, the organ in the Wesleyan Chapel, and Rupert Street Chapel: Stephanie Bingham, 'Pilsley' (published privately, c.1985).
For information about the Rupert Street organ: a letter from Mr. E.N. Annable, 1989, former organist of the chapel.

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