Dumb organist, painted nameplate on organ case: ‘BATES & SON, Organ Builders, 6 Ludgate Hill, LONDON’ which dates the organ to 1850-63. Purchased in 1996 from a private collection near Bournemouth. Restored and installed in 1997 by John Budgen. Tunes recorded in 2000. Restored by Goetze & Gwynn in 2021 at the instigation of Charles Watson: https://www.goetzegwynn.co.uk/organ/lillington-dorset-bates-and-son- finger-and-barrel-organ/ Originally two barrels x 8 tunes; original handwritten tunelist pinned to dumb organist. Only one red barrel now survives, labelled ‘BATES & SON’ and initialled T. B. [Theodore Bates].

References: Budgen (1997); Turner (1999); Turner (2002); Gordon Bartlet, ‘The Lillington Church Organ’, The Music Box, vol.28 no.5 (Spring 2018) pp.188-9; NPOR, D04692.