The organ in Whorlton's picturesque Victorian church is an early and important example by Harrison & Harrison - dating from 1876, shortly after the firm moved from Rochdale to Durham. It pre-dates by a couple of years the firm's surviving records, so assessment has to rely on the evidence of the organ itself. Around this time the firm was gaining a solid reputation for competent work under the founder, Thomas Harrison, and was already recognised by some leading musical figures, including Rev.J.B.Dykes. In time, under the management of the next generation, the firm was to gain national and ultimately international recognition for top class work.
In many ways, the Whorlton organ demonstrates how the early promise was being developed.
The organ is sited in the west part of the vestry, through a relatively
narrow arch in the chancel north wall. The chamber's steeply sloping roof
must have presented a serious difficulty for the organ-builder. Nevertheless
Harrison cleverly managed to design and build a reasonably-sized organ by
accommodating the Great division in and forward of the arch, in casework
bracketed out over the console recess, with the Swell box squeezed at a
lower level against the boarded roof of the chamber space behind. The Pedal
pipes are arranged round three sides, some severely mitred. As a result, the
actions - the stop actions in particular - follow devious routes, and some
of the characteristic logic and finish of the interior of most (certainly
later) Harrison organs is lacking.
Also there are other curiosities, which raise questions to which I have no
ready answers. The Great to Pedal coupler is labelled "Pedals to Keys",
which might indicate a 1 manual organ. The Pedal board is straight and flat,
and old-fashioned, of very narrow slats with compass 29 notes (to E), not
expected of this builder even at this date. Moreover, some of the Swell stop
knob descriptions include the prefix "SW" (attributable to H&H), others do
not, and the Swell Vox Celestes stop knob (though presently immovable),
appears on the right hand (Great) jamb! Other stop knobs have shields
engraved differently; the Swell Gamba Oboe (another H&H speciality) knob is
out of sequence, and the Fifteenth and Tremulant newer (?) The largest front
pipes have had their feet shortened, to rather odd effect. There are painted
front pipes inside the organ, which match and seem to have come from the
case; the pipes in the left hand return panel are polished metal
replacements (?). These may be the bass of the second Open Diapason rank of
newer pipework, which it would seem has been added at the rear of the Great
chest.
These are anomalies I would not expect to find on a normal Harrison organ,
and may indicate that:
-
Harrison incorporated an older 1m organ; or
-
Harrison built a new organ in 1876 with some ranks prepared for, which were added later, or different ranks substituted, quite early in the organ's life; and/or
-
Some of the changes are more recent
Mark Venning of Harrison &
Harrison Ltd adds:
I have not yet been able to search
our earlier records, which are stored in the Durham City Archive. We know
that the organ was built at a cost of £231, "allowing for the value of the
old organ". What seems clear, from the design and layout of the organ as it
stands today, is that the previous instrument was incorporated in the new
one. Richard Hird has discovered a handbill issued by
Robert Postill of York (established 1832), which includes the name of
Whorlton. One may surmise, therefore, that Postill built an organ for the
new church in 1853 - this may well have been a single-manual instrument,
which was then enlarged by Harrison & Harrison in 1876, probably retaining
the original case. One rank of pipes is missing from the Great Organ and
there is provision for another on the Swell; neither is essential to the
tonal scheme, and it is probable that neither was
installed.
The organ's existence since 1876 appears to have been remarkably uneventful.
It must surely have been cleaned at least once during its long life, but at
present we have no evidence as to when this occurred. An electric blower has
been installed, probably some time after the second World War. The organ was
in our care for tuning between 1980 and 1994, but no work was done during
this period apart from routine maintenance.