The organ in the parish church of St. Mary’s Woodnewton was installed by Harrison and Harrison, the famous organ builders of Durham in 1915 at a cost of around £360, which was paid for by Lord Brassey. Delivery was later than planned; the company blaming this on the effect of the war!
For such a small organ, it has a marvellous sound, and can be used for music of all periods if selections are made carefully. As a result it is very highly regarded in musical circles, and used extensively by Oundle for Organists in the training of some of the best young organists in the country ,as well as being visited from time to time by young organists from all over the world.
The organ has two manuals (keyboards) called Great and Swell, and a pedal section to be played by the feet. The top manual (the Swell) has its pipes enclosed by a box with wooden shutters so that the sound level can be controlled. There are eight sets of pipes called stops which are selected by the small knobs each side of the console, and the specification is as follows:
Great
Double Salicional 16
Open Diapason 8
Claribel Flute 8
Octave 4
Swell
Violin diapason 8
Lieblich Flute 4
Cornopean 8
Swell Octave
Pedal
Sub Brass 16
Harrison and Harrison archives contain three design drawings for the organ produced on 13th February 1914
Note pews in front of organ and Vestry to the East
New Organ Chamber
In December 1937, an electric blowing system was added to the organ. Prior to this the organ had of course to be hand blown with a single pump handle. Young men from the village were used for this purpose and several put their signatures on the woodwork at the rear of the organ including two members of the Pridmore family, that name from which the ‘Close’ is called. The hand pump is still useable, and in recent years at recitals we usually have one of the pieces in the programme played while the organ is hand pumped.
On 1st March 1968, it was recorded that rampant woodworm was discovered in the organ box, it was necessary to immediately strip the organ right down or face a spread of the infestation throughout the church. Fortunately the organ was deemed worthy of the expense, which was £250.
On Saturday 24th February 2015, the 100th Anniversary Organ Recital was played by Alexander Eadon from Oundle School who played 9 pieces including Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in d minor and the Widor Toccata.
Unfortunately, in 2019, water entered the organ chamber during a period of very heavy rain. The organ was saturated and now needs a restoration costing over £20,000 pounds.
Update