St Bride's Organ Console
Photo Credit: David Bunbury

The casual visitor would be forgiven for thinking that there is no organ at all in the Church, but the large console in the South Aisle suggests otherwise!

Most of the organ is indeed invisible, but if you stood in the centre of the Nave and looked to the west you would be able to see the pipes of one section, the Positive Division, behind the Minstrels' Gallery. Behind that is the Choir division, enclosed in one of four swell boxes.

The Great and Swell divisions occupy the South chamber; they are placed side by side - against the Rectory wall!

The North chamber contains the Solo division and the loudest stops on the organ, the Tuba and Fanfare Trumpet.

Built by the John Compton Organ Company, and arguably their finest work, the organ was ready for the Rededication of the Church in November 1957. It has recently been completely overhauled and cleaned by Keith Bance, who has carried out some modest tonal updating. This included remodelling the Positive division, adding new Mixture stops to the Great and Pedal divisions and the provision of a new Vox Humana for the Solo division. These changes have further increased the resources of an already versatile instrument.

Those who like statistics will be interested to know that there are four manuals, 98 speaking stops, close to 4000 pipes, a multi level capture system and that the "wind" is provided by four blowing installations.

Alec Hithersay 

Organ Console Specification (pdf)