Boxford

St Andrew, Boxford (Berkshire)

Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches

Barrel organ by an unknown builder, c1810. The Royal coat of arms on the painted nameplate was used during the period 1801-16 but the builder’s name, starting with ‘W’, has either worn away or been removed. Barrel 4 is labelled ‘Flight & Robson, Organ Builders, St Martins Lane, Charing Cross, No 101, London’, where they worked from 1807 to 1832. Barrel 5 is pinned with a selection of traditional dances, marches and patriotic tunes popular in the late eighteenth century, suggesting the organ was originally purchased for domestic use. In 1824 Samuel Hughes was paid £2 ‘for playing the organ’ in the church, likely to have been this instrument. Removed from the church’s west gallery in 1904, the organ is now located in the Heritage Centre in the churchyard. The organ is operated from the front and blown by the winding handle on the right hand side. The mahogany Gothic case has three panels of gilded dummy pipes, formerly backed with red cloth. Restored by Goetze & Gwynn in 2016: https://www.goetzegwynn.co.uk/organ/boxford-berkshire-restoration-of-the-barrel-organ-at-st- andrews-church/ 5 carriage-mounted barrels x 10 tunes; a number of tunes, especially on barrel 1, have been repinned. The two handwritten tunelists are of a later date: they include names of the replacement tunes, and although ‘God Save the K’ is written on the end of barrel 5’s carriage, the tunelists give ‘God Save the Queen’. [There are no links to recordings of this organ.]

References: Boston & Langwill (1967); Reading Evening Post (8 Feb. 1969), p. 3; Elsie Huntley, Boxford Barleycorn: The Story of An English Village (Abingdon, 1970), pp. 46-7 & 81; Country Life (1 Dec. 1977), p. 1626; NPOR N09938.

BARREL 1

Tune

Metre

1.1

Easter Hymn

1.2

Evening Hymn

1.3

New Sabbath

1.4

Manchester

1.5

Abingdon

1.6

Lancaster

1.7

Carey’s

1.8

Bedford

1.9

Sutton

1.10

66th Psalm

BARREL 2

Tune

Metre

2.1

St Anne

2.2

104th Psalm [Hanover]

2.3

Old 100th

2.4

Whittons [New York]

2.5

London New

2.6

Weymouth

2.7

St George

2.8

Islington

2.9

St Matthew

2.10

Angels Hymn

BARREL 3

Tune

Metre

3.1

Sicilian Mariners

3.2

Portuguese Hymn

3.3

Newcastle

3.4

Cambridge New

3.5

Exeter

3.6

St James

3.7

Martins Lane

3.8

Bristol

3.9

Gloucester

3.10

Dublin

BARREL 4

Tune

Metre

4.1

All Saints

4.2

Bishopthorpe

4.3

Lincoln

4.4

Wakefield

4.5

Burford

4.6

Leeds

4.7

Portugal

4.8

Wareham

4.9

91st Psalm

4.10

Haydn’s Hymn

BARREL 5

Tune

5.1

National Anthem

5.2

Rule Britannia

5.3

How Imperfect [is Expression]

5.4

Thro’ the Wood Laddie

5.5

Lango Lee

5.6

How sweet in the Woodlands

5.7

Begone Dull Care

5.8

The Highland Laddie

5.9

How sweet is the Pleasure

5.10

The Garb of Old Gaul

Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches

St Andrew, Boxford (Berkshire)

Barrel organ by an unknown builder, c1810. The Royal coat of arms on the painted nameplate was used during the period 1801-16 but the builder’s name, starting with ‘W’, has either worn away or been removed. Barrel 4 is labelled ‘Flight & Robson, Organ Builders, St Martins Lane, Charing Cross, No 101, London’, where they worked from 1807 to 1832. Barrel 5 is pinned with a selection of traditional dances, marches and patriotic tunes popular in the late eighteenth century, suggesting the organ was originally purchased for domestic use. In 1824 Samuel Hughes was paid £2 ‘for playing the organ’ in the church, likely to have been this instrument. Removed from the church’s west gallery in 1904, the organ is now located in the Heritage Centre in the churchyard. The organ is operated from the front and blown by the winding handle on the right hand side. The mahogany Gothic case has three panels of gilded dummy pipes, formerly backed with red cloth. Restored by Goetze & Gwynn in 2016: https://www.goetzegwynn.co.uk/organ/boxford-berkshire-restoration- of-the-barrel-organ-at-st-andrews-church/ 5 carriage-mounted barrels x 10 tunes; a number of tunes, especially on barrel 1, have been repinned. The two handwritten tunelists are of a later date: they include names of the replacement tunes, and although ‘God Save the K’ is written on the end of barrel 5’s carriage, the tunelists give ‘God Save the Queen’. [There are no links to recordings of this organ.]

BARREL 1

Tune

Metre

1.1

Easter Hymn

1.2

Evening Hymn

1.3

New Sabbath

1.4

Manchester

1.5

Abingdon

1.6

Lancaster

1.7

Carey’s

1.8

Bedford

1.9

Sutton

1.10

66th Psalm

BARREL 3

Tune

Metre

3.1

Sicilian Mariners

3.2

Portuguese Hymn

3.3

Newcastle

3.4

Cambridge New

3.5

Exeter

3.6

St James

3.7

Martins Lane

3.8

Bristol

3.9

Gloucester

3.10

Dublin

BARREL 4

Tune

Metre

4.1

All Saints

4.2

Bishopthorpe

4.3

Lincoln

4.4

Wakefield

4.5

Burford

4.6

Leeds

4.7

Portugal

4.8

Wareham

4.9

91st Psalm

4.10

Haydn’s Hymn

BARREL 2

Tune

Metre

2.1

St Anne

2.2

104th Psalm [Hanover]

2.3

Old 100th

2.4

Whittons [New York]

2.5

London New

2.6

Weymouth

2.7

St George

2.8

Islington

2.9

St Matthew

2.10

Angels Hymn

BARREL 5

Tune

5.1

National Anthem

5.2

Rule Britannia

5.3

How Imperfect [is Expression]

5.4

Thro’ the Wood Laddie

5.5

Lango Lee

5.6

How sweet in the Woodlands

5.7

Begone Dull Care

5.8

The Highland Laddie

5.9

How sweet is the Pleasure

5.10

The Garb of Old Gaul