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.