Organs at Staveley

ORGANS IN & AROUND CHESTERFIELD

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, STAVELEY

The mining and industrial town of Staveley lies on high ground four miles to the north-east of Chesterfield. The church of St. John the Baptist dates from the 13th-century and contains 15th, 16th and 17th century monuments to the Frechville family, local lords of the manor.
A north aisle was built in 1865/9, and it was probably at this time that an organ by Brindley was installed. In 1955 it was given electric action by Compton. The stoplist (from the Willis archive) suggests that tonal alterations had been made at some time:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason 8 Wald Flute 8 Dulciana 4 Principal 4 Harmonic Flute SWELL 8 Geigen Diapason 8 Rohr Flute 8 Viol de Orchestra 8 Voix Celestes 4 Gemshorn 2 Fifteenth 8 Horn 8 Oboe Tremulant PEDAL 16 Bourdon 8 Bass Flute Couplers: 3 unison; Swell 8ve & sub8ve; Swell 8ve & sub8ve to Great.

The organ sat at gallery level at the west end of the north aisle, and communication with the choir in the chancel was problematical. In 1973 an Allen computer organ was installed as a memorial gift, with 38 stops on two manuals. As a teenager in the late 1970s I enjoyed practising on this organ; its bright tone and zippy response was a welcome change from the ageing and (to my youthful taste) dull little pipe-organs so common in the area. Since that time various modifications have been made, including new speakers for the pedal stops.
The Brindley/Compton instrument was dismantled and was stored in the church of St. Leonard, Scarcliffe, where it was proposed to rebuild it; nothing came of this plan, and its current location is unknown.

ST. ALBAN'S MISSION CHURCH, POOLSBROOK
An organ was installed in 1918 by H.A. Speed (Sheffield). Little is known about Speed apart from the fact that he worked from his Meersbrook Organ Works, Derbyshire Lane, Sheffield during the 1910s. Only four of his instruments are known.
Here is the stoplist, taken on a visit in 1979:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Claribel Flute 4 Wald Flute SWELL 8 Lieblich Gedact 8 Viol di Gamba 8 Voix Celestes 4 Gemshorn PEDAL 16 Bourdon Couplers: 3 unison.

The organ was free-standing to the north of the chancel area, with an attached drawstop console.
The church closed in 1990; the organ appeared in the 'redundant' section of the BIOS reporter. It's fate is not known.

ST. PAUL'S MISSION CHURCH, MASTIN MOOR
An organ was installed by Bower & Dunn (Sheffield) in 1918. The stoplist was as follows, taken on a visit in 1980:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Hohl Flute 8 Salicional 4 Harmonic Flute PEDAL 16 Bourdon Couplers: Great octave, Great to Pedal. Balanced swell pedal. Compass: 61/30. Tracker action.

The organ, with its attached drawstop console, stood to the South of the chancel area. All stops except the Open Diapason and Bourdon were enclosed in a swell-box.
When the church closed the organ was removed to St. Martin, Osmaston, Derby and installed there in 1990 by the Johnson Organ Co. (Derby).

TRINITY WESLEYAN METHODIST, STAVELEY

The first Methodist chapel was built in Staveley in 1827, and replaced by a larger building in 1849. The new Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Church in Chesterfield Road was dedicated in 1904. In 1931 Albert Keates (Sheffield) installed an organ; the following stoplist is taken from files formerly in the Organ Club Library, London:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason, Large 8 Clarabella 8 Dulciana 4 Principal SWELL 8 Open Diapason 8 Gedact 8 Viola da Gamba 8 Voix Celestes 4 Harmonic Flute 8 Cornopean Tremulant PEDAL 16 Open Diapason 16 Bourdon 8 Bass Flute Couplers: 3 unison; Swell 8ve & sub8ve; Swell 8ve & sub8ve to Great. Composition pedals: 2 Great, 2 Swell, Great to Pedal reversible. Compass: 61/30. Tubular-pneumatic action.

By the 1970s the borough council required the chapel site to build flats. A new church was built on the opposite side of the road and dedicated in 1976. The old organ was rebuilt in the new church by T.L. Jubb (Gainsborough). The Pedal Open was discarded, a Fifteenth replaced the Celestes on Swell, and a new electric action and detached stop-key console were provided. Here is the new stoplist, recorded during a visit in 1981:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Clarabella 8 Dulciana 4 Principal SWELL 8 Open Diapason 8 Gedact 8 Viol de Gamba 4 Flute 2 Fifteenth 8 Cornopean Tremulant PEDAL 16 Bourdon 8 Bass Flute Couplers: 3 unison; Swell 8ve & sub8ve; Swell 8ve & sub8ve to Great. Thumb pistons: 3 Swell, 3 Great; reversibles to Swell 8ve, Great to Pedal. Balanced pedal to Swell.

LOWGATES FREE METHODIST, STAVELEY

This chapel was built of local stone and dedicated in 1874. A harmonium was bought at a cost of £20; eleven years later an organ from Marsh Lane Methodist was installed at a cost of £75.
In 1921 the organ was replaced with one by Bower & Dunn (Sheffield). The stoplist, from the Willis archives, was as follows:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Hohl Flute 8 Dulciana 4 Principal 4 Harmonic Flute SWELL 8 Violin Diapason 8 Gedact 8 Gamba 8 Voix Celeste 4 Gemshorn 8 Cornopean 8 Oboe Tremulant PEDAL 16 Bourdon 8 Bass Flute Couplers: 3 unison; Swell 8ve & sub8ve. 2 composition pedals to Great, 2 to Swell. Balanced pedal to Swell. Compass: 61/30. Action: mechanical to manuals, pneumatic to pedals.

In 1962 Willis removed the 4ft. Harmonic Flute and substituted a Fifteenth.
Falling attendance and increased maintenance costs forced the chapel to close in 1987. Two years later the building was sold by auction to a supplier of office furniture.
Having researched the history of this instrument in 1992, I was curious to discover its fate. In August 1994, after photographing the remains of the Great Central Railway at Staveley, I called at the former chapel which was still owned by the office furniture suppliers. To my surprise the organ was in situ, and the photographs below show what I found. Intruders had made it unplayable - the blower was inoperative, some of the smaller pipes had been stolen and others bent out of shape, two drawstops were torn off. The property was due to be re-sold shortly, and the fate of the organ was thus doubly uncertain.
It is sad when instruments such as this are sold or given away as quarries for parts, or simply as scrap. They are tonally unremarkable but effective in small buildings, and they make good practise instruments. Efforts have been made to find a home for this organ; I do not know the present situation.

ZION CHAPEL, SPEEDWELL, STAVELEY and ST. JOSEPH R.C., STAVELEY

Zion Chapel was built in 1873, destroyed by fire in 1903 and rebuilt in 1908. Perhaps it was then that the organ by Albert Keates (Sheffield) was installed. The chapel closed in 1969 and the organ was donated to St. Joseph R.C., Staveley, where it was re-erected in the south-west corner by T.L. Jubb (Gainsborough). Here is the stoplist of the organ as installed at St. Joseph's:

GREAT 8 Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason 8 Dulciana 4 Principal 4 Harmonic Flute 2 Fifteenth SWELL 16 Double Diapason 8 Open Diapason 8 Lieblich Gedackt 8 Viola da Gamba 8 Voix Celestes 4 Principal 2 Fifteenth 8 Cornopean 8 Oboe PEDAL 16 Bourdon 8 Bass Flute extension Couplers: 3 unison, Swell octave. 4 composition pedals. Tracker action to manuals, pneumatic to pedals. Compass: 50/30. Attached drawstop console.

PICTURE CREDITS
St. John the Baptist, Staveley: photograph, 1904
Trinity Methodist: postcard, c.1905
Lowgates Chapel: anonymous photograph, c.1970
Lowgates organ and pipework: Julian Rhodes, 1994
Zion Chapel, Speedwell: postcard, c.1910

SOURCES
For historical information about the chapels of Staveley: 'Staveley Town' by Fred Wood (published locally, 1993).
For the stoplist of the organ at St. Joseph's: Victor Nixon, Esq., 1991.
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