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

There was a Norman church of St. Leonard which by 1440 was ruined. It stood at the top of what is now Norman Road.

James Burton designed a church in the gothic style for his new town of St. Leonards. It was opened in 1834. The local newspaper reported that Dowager Queen Adelaide (widow of the late King) contributed a gift of 20 guineas towards an organ, which was built by Holdich and opened on Wednesday 15 November 1837. The inaugural recital was given by Samuel Wesley.

The illustration shows the Burton church around 1900; the organ is in a chamber on the south side of the small sanctuary.

In 1934 a new organ was installed.

The following stoplist, from the Charles Drane notebooks formerly in the Organ Club library, appears to be typical of Hill organs from the later 19th-century. Perhaps this represents the state of the instrument before the work of 1934.

GREAT
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Gamba
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Hohl Flute
     4       Principal
    2 2/3    Twelfth
     2       Fifteenth
     8       Trumpet
 
SWELL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Stopped Diapason
     8       Keraulophon
     4       Principal
     2       Fifteenth
     8       Cornopean
     8       Oboe
             Tremulant
 
CHOIR
     8       Gedact
     8       Dulciana
     4       Gemshorn
     4       Suabe Flute
     2       Flautina
     8       Clarinet
             Tremulant (by pedal)
 
PEDAL
    16       Open Diapason
    16       Bourdon
 
5 unison couplers (no Choir to Great).
 
Compass: 56/29.

The church and organ were destroyed in 1944. A small organ by Dalladay was then brought into use in the temporary church.