© Maggie Kilbey & Marcel Glover 2021-2022
St Botolph, Wardley (Rutland: now Leicestershire)
Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches
Barrel organ, 1834-47. Painted nameplate on case: ‘T.C. Bates & Son, Organ Builders, 6, Ludgate Hill, London’, printed at bottom of
tunelists 1 & 2: ‘T.C. BATES, 6, Ludgate Hill, London’. ‘Organ no. 2633’ is stamped on the back of the case.
Situated in the north-east corner of the nave on a plinth. The organ is operated from the rear, the crank handle on the right-hand side
operates both the barrel and bellows – there is no electricity supply to the church, and two candleholders are attached near the top of
the case. The oak Gothic case has two panels of gold painted dummy pipes which were once backed with cloth.
Restored in 2019 by Cousans Organs Ltd. http://www.cousansorgans.co.uk/restoration.html
Pinned inside the flap at the back of the organ are the three original tunelists headed ‘SACRED BARREL ORGAN No. 2633’. The tunelist
for barrel 1 is fixed to the centre of the back panel, suggesting the organ was originally supplied with only one barrel, the second
tunelist being later fixed to its right. The third tunelist was fixed to the left of the first, suggesting it was supplied later. This is confirmed
by the fact that tunelists 1 & 2 are headed ‘Manufactured by T.C. BATES, 6, Ludgate Hill, London’ whereas tunelist 3 is headed
‘Manufactured by Bates & Son, 6, Ludgate Hill, London’, a title used later by the firm. Three colour-coded carriage-mounted barrels x 10
tunes; all have the Bates label. Some of the staples are damaged, especially on barrel 1 – which has the most popular tunes. Barrel 3
has had little use because of the impossibility of dwelling on chanting notes without loss of wind pressure.
References: Phillips (1928); MacDermott (1948); Country Life (28 Mar. 1957),
p.605; Boston (1959); Boston & Langwill (1967); Turner (2002); Davidson (2003);
NPOR, D02069.
BARREL 1
RED
Tune
Metre
1.1
LM
1.2
LM
1.3
LM
1.4
LM
1.5
CM
1.6
CM
1.7
CM
1.8
SM
1.9
77.77.
1.10
77.77.D
BARREL 2
YELLOW
Tune
Metre
2.1
2.2
2.3
LM
2.4
LM
2.5
CM
2.6
CM
2.7
SM
2.8
SM
2.9
SM
2.10
87.87.47.
BARREL 3
GREEN
Tune
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10