2015: reconfiguration and enlargement of the organ, 2 manuals, 30 stops.
St Mark’s previous organ, built by George Benson of Norwich, dated from 1907. It had been rebuilt by Miller of Cambridge in 1911, and then given electric action by Norman Hall & Sons of Cambridge in 1973.
In 2015 the church asked Henry Groves & Son to redesign the instrument. Using the modular system that we have developed in recent years, we rebuilt the organ on a new mezzanine floor, retaining the original front and side casework and panelling, with the console attached to the case at ground level as before, and so provided much-needed vestry space beneath.
By incorporating some fine quality vintage pipework and using minimal extension and derivation, we have achieved what we consider to be an interesting and flexible specification. The 20 independent registers (delivering 30 speaking stops), provide a wide range of colours, including two diapason choruses up to mixture, a powerful full Swell, and an effective, supportive pedal.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions the organ had not been tuned since December 2019 when it was recorded on March 17th 2021 by Louisa Denby on Youtube, and you can hear how well the organ has remained in tune.
For a detailed assessment of the organ, see Paul Hale’s article in the December 2015 issue of Organists’ Review.
Specification
| Great Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason* 8 Principal 4 Harmonic Flute* 4 Nazard* 2 2/3 Fifteenth 2 Blockflute* 2 Tierce* 1 3/5 Mixture 19.22.26 Swell Trumpet (C) 8 Swell Oboe (B) 8 Tremulant (to *) Swell to Great Great Cornet* on Swell | Swell Geigen Diapason 8 Lieblich Gedeckt (A) 8 Gamba 8 Voix Celeste 8 Geigen Principal 4 Lieblich Flute (A) 4 Fifteenth 2 Mixture 15.19.22 Contra Fagotto (C) 16 Trumpet (C) 8 Oboe (B) 8 Tremulant Swell octave Swell unison off Swell suboctave |
| Pedal Geigen Diapason (D) 16 Bourdon (E) 16 Principal (D) 8 Bass Flute (E) 8 Fifteenth (D) 4 Flute (E) 4 Swell Fagotto (C) 16 Swell Trumpet (C) 8 Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Gt & Ped Combs Coupled |
