David Bridgeman-Sutton muses about family resemblances in organs.
Canterbury Cousins
Fig. 1
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The web-site of Christchurch's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Canterbury, New Zealand, claims that its organ is the finest unspoilt example of 19th century English organ building in the country. It is probably the best remaining example of the work of Halmshaw of Birmingham. (Fig. 1) The business was founded by Joseph Halmshaw about 1855, during an era of great demand in the trade, partly brought about by the instruments on show at the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851. For 60 of its 70 years the firm was under the direction of members of the founder's family: it closed about the time the first world war began. |
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Sound workmanship ensured that Halmshaw organs had long lives. Many still remain and are chiefly to be found in the North and Midlands of England. The closure of churches and chapels in recent years has diminished the number as has the trend to replace pipes with electronics. The Christchurch instrument, the largest survivor, is the only one known to have been exported. It is also one of the least altered: tendency to change tonal schemes in accord with fads did not always result in improvements - a lesson that is still often forgotten!
Comparison of the Christchurch organ with the smaller one at Cliffe, in Kent, (Fig 2) shows "family" features of this builder's work. Display pipes were usually arranged in three compartments of approximately equal width, with the middle one at a slightly different level from the outer two - higher, as at Christchurch or lower, as at Cliffe. |
Picture 2
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The application of gold leaf to these pipes is also characteristic, with broad central bands and narrower "collars" at the tops. Stop jambs are parallel and receding , so that they slope back toward the top.
A dozen years or so after the completion of the Christchurch instrument, Halmshaws took on a new apprentice . At 17, John Compton, older than most beginners, had had to overcome parental opposition. A prolific inventor and a masterly voicer, he eventually founded his own company which built many instruments in the 1930s and 1940s, regarded as masterpieces of their kind.
The sketch map (Fig 3) may guide visitors to the UK to Cliffe, which is marked by organ pipes: the village is on the B2000 road. One of Chaucer's pilgrims ~ the Wife of Bath ~ rides side-saddle from the direction of London. Owing to the reversal effected by printing she is riding on the offside! Her destination, the City of Canterbury, is marked by one of the cathedral's mediaeval roundels depicting agriculture of the day.
The lighthouse near Ramsgate marks the approximate point of entry by ferry from France while the smuggler's barrel is being recovered on Romney Marsh, North of Dover - another ferry port where today's contraband comes in bottles. On the South downs, a sheep idly wonders how its cousins in the New Zealand Canterbury are making out.
A dozen years or so after the completion of the Christchurch instrument, Halmshaws took on a new apprentice . At 17, John Compton, older than most beginners, had had to overcome parental opposition. A prolific inventor and a masterly voicer, he eventually founded his own company which built many instruments in the 1930s and 1940s, regarded as masterpieces of their kind.
The sketch map (Fig 3) may guide visitors to the UK to Cliffe, which is marked by organ pipes: the village is on the B2000 road. One of Chaucer's pilgrims ~ the Wife of Bath ~ rides side-saddle from the direction of London. Owing to the reversal effected by printing she is riding on the offside! Her destination, the City of Canterbury, is marked by one of the cathedral's mediaeval roundels depicting agriculture of the day.
The lighthouse near Ramsgate marks the approximate point of entry by ferry from France while the smuggler's barrel is being recovered on Romney Marsh, North of Dover - another ferry port where today's contraband comes in bottles. On the South downs, a sheep idly wonders how its cousins in the New Zealand Canterbury are making out.
Fig. 3
David Bridgeman-Sutton,
April 21, 2003
April 21, 2003
* Postscript (November 2004): Dr Ross Wards says that there are three - and possibly four - further Halmshaw organs in New Zealand. One, a twin sister of the instrument in Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, went to First Church, Dunedin and now forms the basis of the organ in St Andrew's Presbyterian church, Palmerston North. Dr Ron Newton says that members of the Halmshaw firm visited New Zealand.
For more information see: Laurence Elvin's Pipes and Actions 1994 and Ronald G Newton's Organs in Canterbury 1850-1885.
Picture credits:
Picture 1: by Ian Smith ~ from Ronald Newton's Organs in Canterbury; - by permission
Picture 2: NPOR.
Picture 1: by Ian Smith ~ from Ronald Newton's Organs in Canterbury; - by permission
Picture 2: NPOR.