JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
ORGANS OF HASTINGS & ST. LEONARDS

ORGANS OF HASTINGS AND ST. LEONARDS EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND A COLLECTION OF STOPLISTS

The town of Hastings, on the south coast of England, is most famous for its association with the battle of 1066. The neighboring town of St. Leonards was built in the 1820s as a 'new town'. Both towns grew rapidly during the 19th-century, and are today united as a single administrative unit.

The organs are much as one might expect in a medium-sized provincial English town. The most historically interesting are perhaps the Snetzler/Walker in the Unitarian Church, Hastings and the 1890 Willis at St. Matthew, St. Leonards. The largest is the 1930 Willis rebuild at Christ Church, St. Leonards, with 46 stops. The 1878 Willis in All Saints, Hastings is musically outstanding; many of the others are competent, unremarkable instruments.

Samuel Frederick Dalladay (1865-1955) built or rebuilt some ten organs in the town. A Londoner, Dalladay was a skilled performer who gave recitals at the Royal Albert Hall and the Crystal Palace in his youth. In 1886 he moved to Folkestone and opened an Academy of Music; he became organist at St. John's Church, Folkestone. His organ-building activities are known to date from as early as 1903, though it was not until just before World War I that he moved to Hastings and opened the Sussex Organ Works, which remained in business until about 1939. From time to time he built instruments for churches throughout England, though most of his work was in the southern counties. His two largest jobs appear to have been a 4-manual 26-stop instrument for St. Bartholomew, Reading in 1910, and a 3-manual 36-stop rebuild at Holy Trinity, Aldershot in 1925.

G.M. Holdich built eight instruments in the town between 1837 and 1892, including one at Christ Church, St. Leonards with 44 stops on 4 manuals. Seven instruments were built or rebuilt by Forster & Andrews; these included St. Paul, St. Leonards with 43 stops on 4 manuals. No instrument by either builder remains unaltered

The following list is as comprehensive as eleven years of intermittent research permit. There are no major ommissions, though some historical lacunae await further information. Many of the stoplists are disconcertingly repetitious, varying little from one to the next. They are largely a testament to the musical conservatism of the British organ world in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.

Last updated 7 January 2001

ORGANS
OF HASTINGS

All Saints, Old Town
    Holdich 1846  I/7 (to St. Giles, Dallington, Sussex)
    Willis 1878  III/25

All Souls, Clive Vale
    Norman & Beard 1891  III/34
    rebuilt Walker 1930  III/33

Baptist, Wellington Square
    T.S. Jones, Dalladay, Bevington 1926  III/25 (removed)
    Rushworth & Dreaper 1967  II/19

Calvert Memorial Methodist, Mount Pleasant Road
    Norman & Beard 1907  II/13

Central Methodist (formerly Wesleyan), Cambridge Road (demolished)
    Forster & Andrews 1887  II/19
    T.S. Jones 1897  II/18
    rebuilt Wood Wordsworth 1963  II/25 (to St. Mary, Battle c.1975)

Christ Church, Ore
    Speechly 1904  II/15

Christ Church & St. Andrew, Blacklands
    Forster & Andrews 1881  II/24
    rebuilt Wood Wordsworth 1962  III/41

Congregational, Clive Vale (demolished)
    Forster & Andrews 1852 for Highbury Congregational, Cheltenham
    installed Hunter 1896  II/21

Emmanuel & St. Mary in the Castle, West Hill
    Dalladay 1914/15  II/17

Holy Trinity, Robertson Street
    Norman & Beard 1896  III/39
    rebuilt Norman & Beard 1932  III/43 (removed)
    Holdich/Foskett/Willis from St. Mary Magdalen, St. Leonards,
       installed and rebuilt Males 1983  III/43

Methodist (former Wesleyan), The Bourne (now an Exhibition Centre)
    Bevington 1925  II/11 (to Beckley Methodist 1988)

Public Hall/Cinema (demolished)
    Dalladay 1922  II/12 (combined organ/piano)

Residence
    Collins 1987  II/9

Residence of Samuel Dalladay
    Dalladay 1935  II/18 (fate unknown)

Residence of Miss Pennington
    Cousans 1906  II/11
    from a residence in Grimsby, installed here 1906, fate unknown

St. Andrew, Queens Road (demolished 1970)
    Robson 1860  II/18

St. Clement, Halton & Halton Parsonage (demolished)
    Dalladay 1919  II/13;   Gern c.1871  I/7

St. Clement, Old Town
    Holdich c.1842  II/19
    rebuilt Morten & Taylor 1880  III/29
    rebuilt Browne 1958  III/36

St. Helen, Ore
    W. Richardson  II/16

St. Mary/Our Lady Star of the Sea, Old Town
    Anneessens 1885  II/20 (removed)
    second-hand Lewis 1912  II/13 installed c.1988

St. Mary-in-the-Castle, Pelham Crescent (now an Arts Centre)
    Allen 1852
    (Bishop?)
    rebuilt Noterman 1924  III/25 (removed)

Unitarian, South Terrace
    Snetzler
    rebuilt Walker 1837  II/6

United Reformed (formerly Congregational), Robertson Street
    Forster & Andrews 1885  II/20
    rebuilt Morgan & Smith 1957  II/22

ORGANS OF
ST. LEONARDS

Baptist, Chapel Park Road
    Bevington  II/7

Christ Church, London Road
    Holdich 1865
    Holdich 1882 IV/44
    rebuilt Norman & Beard 1902 & 1914  III/41
    rebuilt Willis 1930  III/46

Congregational, London Road
    Holdich 1892  II/23
    rebuilt Speechly 1903
    rebuilt Willis 1930  III/28

Convent of the Holy Child (now a school)
    Walker 1881
    rebuilt Richardson 1939  II/17

Methodist, Bohemia Road/Park Road
    Anon. c.1900  III/12

Methodist, Norman Road
    Speechly 1901  II/17
    rebuilt Bishop 1959  II/21

Residence Mr. W. Goss-Custard, Pevensey Road
    2 manuals; no further information

Residence Mr. McBean
    Hele c.1904  II/8 (fate unknown)

Residence Dr. W.H. Spicer
    Dalladay c.1929  II/7 (to St. Michael, Bexhill)

Royal Concert Hall, Warrior Gardens (destroyed by fire)
    Hill 1884  III/34

St. Columba's Presbyterian, Warrior Gardens (destroyed in World War II)
    Gray & Davison c.1896  II/18

St. Ethelburga
    Morgan & Smith 1895
    Dalladay 1929  II/10
    rebuilt 1966  II/12

St. John the Evangelist, Hollington
    Hill, Norman & Beard 1924
    Browne c.1962  II/26

St. John the Evangelist, Upper Maze Hill
    Holdich
    new Forster & Andrews 1881
    rebuilt Forster & Andrews 1893  III/31
    rebuilt Forster & Andrews 1926  III/35
    rebuilt Hill, Norman & Beard 1935  III/43
    (The above organ damaged 1943. Parts to Rye Methodist.)
    Norman & Beard 1895 / Harrison & Harrison 1936 / Compton 1961
    from St. Catherine's College Chapel, Cambridge
    installed Johnson 1979  III/33

St. Leonard, Marina
    Holdich 1837
    Hill  III/24 (destroyed 1944)
    Dalladay  I/7 (temporary organ)
    Morgan & Smith 1951  III/36

St. Luke's United Reformed (formerly Presbyterian), Silverhill
    Dalladay 1925, installed 1947  II/17

St. Mary, Hollington
    Norman & Beard 1892? 1912?  II/11

St. Mary Magdalen (now Greek Orthodox)
    Holdich 1866  III/31
    rebult Foskett 1927  III/36
    rebuilt Willis 1946  III/37 (to Holy Trinity, Hastings 1983)

St. Matthew
    Willis 1890  III/23 (with some notes on the church building)

St. Paul (demolished 1960s, fate of organ unknown)
    Holdich 1868  II/26
    rebuilt Forster & Andrews 1881  IV/43
    (click here to go to the essay containing the two stoplists)

St. Peter, Bohemia Road
    Forster & Andrews 1887  II/16
    rebuilt Morgan & Smith 1930  III/40

St. Thomas of Canterbury
    Dalladay c.1921  III/25
    (moved to St. John, Upper Maze Hill - subsequent fate unknown)

Organists of Hastings & St. Leonards
   In preparation.

Julian Rhodes
March 2000