Organs

 Organs

Summary.  A piped organ was first mentioned in 1482. An organ added in 1740 lasted 48 years before a small organ was placed on top of the choir screen, 1790. The current organ rebuilt in 2000 has 82 speaking stops and 5038 pipes.

           The first piped organs appeared in European churches in the late 10th-century and were common in cathedrals in England by the end of the 13th-century. The earliest mention of a cathedral organ at Lichfield is in 1482 when a ‘great organ’ was placed on the choir screen in the cathedral.[1] A fee to an organist and bellows-blower was recorded in the 1580s.[2] A second organ, much smaller and called the ‘Jesus Organ’ was also installed. Visitors in 1634 noted the organs and voices were deep and sweet, but in 1635 two organs were described as ‘much defective’ and in need of repair. It was suggested the organs should be combined to make one chair-organ. A new organ with 12 stops was ordered in 1636,[3] but was destroyed soon after in the Civil War. The wooden pipes were burned.[4] It was recorded a pair of organs valued at £200 were destroyed in the Civil War.

          With the post-war restoration of the cathedral a new organ was installed in 1667, procured by Bishop Hacket.[5] It was known as the ‘ladies’ organ’ since only ladies were allowed to subscribe to pay for it. An organ was used in 1663 since an inquiry asked what the organist played. It is uncertain whether any part of this instrument is present in the chamber organ after it moved to other venues before returning to the Cathedral on permanent loan and now currently resides in the south transept of the building. Now known as the chamber organ.

 

Cathedral Chamber Organ known as the ‘wardrobe’.

 

          In 1677 a little organ was repaired. In 1732, the organ was said to be out of repair. In 1740, the Warwick-based German organ builder Thomas Schwarbrick provided Lichfield with a new or fully restored main organ, which survived until 1789. Another organ was located in the Vicar’s Hall and then moved to Mr Greene’s Museum in the town.

          In 1789, James Wyatt removed the stone screen between the choir and the Lady Chapel and used the stone to build a screen between the crossing and the choir. A new organ[6] was placed on top of the stone wall and was first played in November 1790. It occupied the first choir bay, an estimated area of 9 m x 6 m (30 feet wide and 20 feet long).[7] Access to the loft was by a staircase built into the stone screen. A glazed screen was then added in 1801[8] to the back of the organ case which reached upwards to the roof. The organist was now separated from the nave by a window.

 

Part of a plate showing the stone wall, organ and glass screen. From Britton, 1820.[9]

           With Scott’s restoration the stone wall and organ were taken down in 1858. A new organ[10] was bought by Josiah Spode[11] and was played in 1861. The new organ, the foundation of the current organ, was innovative for its size and having an independent pedal chorus.[12] The organ was located in St Stephen’s Chapel in the north transept.[13]

In 1884, the organ[14] was enlarged and rebuilt. It was given tubular pneumatic action, adding a Solo division, much of the pipework was replaced and the console moved into the north choir aisle, thereby improving the siting of the organist.[15]

Organ in north choir aisle in 1884

         Organ in St Stephens                         Chapel until 1907

 

In 1907–8, the organ was placed in a loft above the north choir aisle and a new console was added.[16] Further rebuilding occurred in 1974 such that it now had 66 speaking stops and 4064 pipes.[17] The instrument’s tonal palette was broadened.

Rebuild in 2000[18] saw the addition of the nave organ (almost 1000 new pipes) so that it now had 82 speaking stops and 5038 pipes. The nave section can be used independently of the choir section. After much debate, the organ was left at its original Old Philharmonic pitch, meaning that it sounds very sharp against modern-day concert pitch. A past organist wrote the organ is not the most famous in the country, but it is one of the most delightful of English organs to play and to hear.[19]

                                 Organ console (behind the green curtain) above the second bay in the north choir aisle

The cathedral also owns an electronic organ with fixed speakers and a moveable console. Notable organists of Lichfield Cathedral include the 17th-century composer Michael East and the musical educator and choral conductor William Henry Harris who conducted at the coronations of both George VI and Elizabeth II.[20]

Image thanks to Birmingham Live 2015.

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[1] Presented by Dean Haywood. See Lichfield Cathedral Library MS. Lichfield 4, f. 31. Also M. Greenslade, 'Lichfield: The Cathedral'. In: A history of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield.. (London: 1990) 47--57, note 129. Taken from Cantaria S, Blasii, vol.2 fol. 31, ‘Magna organa pulpitio’.

[2] M. W. Greenslade and R. B. Pugh (eds.) 'House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: From the Reformation to the 20th century’, in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3, (London, 1970), 166–199.

[3] Ordered from Robert Dallam.

[4] J. Jackson, History of the City and Cathedral of Lichfield. (London: 1805), 204. There is mention of two organs lost in the Civil War, 83.

[5] Built by Bernard Smith. He enlarged the organ in 1680.

[6] Built by Samuel Green. The organ case was designed by James Wyatt in a Gothic style.

[7] R. Prentis, A view from the old organ lofts. Unpub. paper in the cathedral library.

[8] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 90, stated this was done in 1801.

[9] J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield.( London: 1820), Plate 8.

[10] Built by George Holdich. It was called ‘Holdich’s Magnum Opus’.

[11] He also paid for the old organ and placed this in Armitage church, where he was the organist.

[12] M. Rawles, The pipe-organs of Lichfield Cathedral: a very brief history. (2015). 

[13] Which meant communication between the organist and the choir was not easy.

[14] Work done by William Hill and Sons.

[15] See note 12.

[16] This necessitated removing a window.

[17] Work done by Hill, Norman and Beard under the direction of Richard Greening.

[18] By Harrison and Harrison of Durham.

[19] See note 12.

 

Bells

 Summary. The current cathedral probably always had a bell calling to worship. Several bells existed by 1477. 12 bells were damaged in the Civil War. There are now 10 bells.

          The ringing of cathedral bells was mentioned in Bishop Nonant's statutes, c. 1190. It described two great bells, and one which was 'sweet’ and another its 'companion.[1] It is thought a bell tower of some sort existed in1275.[2] In 1301, a bell founder called Henry Champanar lived in or near Lichfield. In 1315, there was a fire in the bell tower.[3] Excavations in the courtyard westward of the Palace revealed an ancient pavement, a little below the present surface of the ground, which was covered over with a mass of molten bell-metal. It was thought this was the site of a free-standing bell tower, but logically it would be situated on the south side of the cathedral and nearest the town.  A belfry mentioned in 1385 may have been the cathedral's south-west tower. It seems there were bells in an external tower and also in the southwest tower when completed.

AI gen. imagined standalone bell tower on the south side of the Close.

          The next mention of bells is 1477 when Dean Heywode paid £100 for a great bell known as the ‘Jesus Bell’ that was cast in London.[4] It was inscribed, " I am the Bell of JESUS, and EDWARD is our King, Sir THOMAS HEYWODE first caused me to ring." 1655, It was hung in the southwest tower now known as "The Jesus-bell steeple.” There was a bell, or bells, in the central tower, the 'great belfry', badly damaged in 1537.[5]  In 1553, post-Reformation the cathedral was allowed to keep its 12 bells. 

          The Civil War sieges saw the destruction of the bells. By 1652, some of the bells had been broken and others carried off, and in 1653 Dugdale[6] noted the destruction of the Jesus Bell by 'a Presbyterian pewterer who was the chief officer for demolishing of that cathedral'. One bell was saved in 1661 when the chapter clerk recovered 'a stolen bell' at Coventry.[7] It is possible this was the small, medieval bell which survived in the central tower until the late 1980s

          Bishop John Hacket's last contribution to the restoration before his death in 1670 was to finance a peal of six bells to be placed in the south-west tower. Only three had been cast before his death and only the tenor had been hung. The three smallest bells were not hung until 1673, and by the late 1680s, around 17 years later, it was agreed that all six were unsuitable.[8] They were recast in 1688 as a peal of ten by Henry Bagley of Ecton, Northamptonshire. Three of the new bells were recast again by Bagley in the early 1690s. It was not until 1691 that all ten bells were ready. The southwest spire had a " clocke bell."  In 1748, the belfry was again on fire, and the ninth bell cracked with the intense heat. The bell was recast by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester in 1758, and the treble and the tenor by Thomas Rudhall in 1764; the tenor was again recast in 1813 by Thomas Mears of London. All ten were recast in 1947 by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough. 

 

AI gen, Bishop John Hacket dying and hearing the cathedral tenor bell again in 1670. The reference states, ‘He went out of his bedchamber into the next room to hear it, seemed well pleased with the sound, and blessed God who had favoured him with life to hear it; but at the same time observed that it would be his own passing bell; and retiring into his chamber, he never left it until he was carried to his grave.

 

A society of ringers was established on December 20, 1686, called the ‘Loyal Youths,’ consisting of residents of the city. They governed themselves with a warden annually elected presiding.[9]

          The small calling bell in the central tower is known as the ‘Tantony.’ Some believe the name derives from tintinnation meaning a tinkling sound, another interpretation is it comes from St Anthony the abbot of Egypt who is sometimes featured with a small church bell. The bell is a bit of a mystery since it is not known who cast it or when it was made. The bell has a plain cross or founders mark on one side and an unintelligible black-letter inscription of three words which suggests a late 15th-century date. Dove’s Guide for Church Bell Ringers lists a date of c.1500. The bell has been claimed to come from Streethay Hall, the old seat of the Dyott family,[10] but there is no firm evidence for this. The bell weighs approximately 75kg and is used before every act of public worship at the cathedral to call people to prayer. It is chimed using a bell rope from the floor of the cathedral in the southeast corner of the crossing.

 

Tantony Bell before restoration 2021.  

Tantony Bell after restoration and installation.

     

     In 1784, the ten bells of the cathedral were rung for the first time since the tower was on fire.[11] An old house near the east end of the Cathedral was built after the war restoration as a foundry for casting bells, but in February,1748, was demolished and the ground levelled. In 1902, Barwell of Birmingham rehung all 10 bells. Today, there are 10 bells of which 7 date from about 1687.[12] This peel is regarded as one of the finest peels of ten bells in the world. The smallest bell, the 'treble', sounds F sharp, and weighs 293kg. The largest bell, the 'tenor', sounds D and weighs 1604kg. They are hung with modern cast-iron headstocks, but are still in the old 17th-century timber frame. Much recent remedial work on this10 bell frame has been necessary.

 

Bell ringing

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[1]  M W Greenslade ed.  'Lichfield: The cathedral', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, (London: 1990).

[2] J. Hewitt, Handbook of Lichfield Cathedral. (Lichfield: 1882), 71.

[3] Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 447.

[4] Lichfield Record Office, D. 30/C.A. i, f. 2v.; Lichfield Cathedral Library, MS. Lichfield 4, ff. 28, 31v.–32.

[5] Bodl. MS. Ashmole 770, f. 66v.

[6] V.C.H. Staffs. Volume 3, 174.

[7] L.J.R.O., D. 30/LXIV.

[8] Elias Ashmole was sent a letter, 1688, from the Dean and Chapter requesting a contribution to pay for the correction of the bells.

[9] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 71.

[10] J. Hewitt (1882), 74.

[11] Ibid, 284.

[12]  A. Clifton-Taylor, The Cathedrals of England. (London: 1986).