St Buryan Church

St Buryan TR19 6BA 

 

 

The Organ

Update - 23rd January 2021

The organ in St Buriana's Church, St Buryan, Cornwall has been awarded a certificate Grade II

A substantial surviving example, mechanically and tonally, from 1901 of Heard & Son's workmanship in the early twentieth century.

It is therefore listed listed in the Institute's Register of Historic Pipe Organs as being an instrument of importance to the national heritage and one deserving careful preservation for the beneift of future generations.

Signed by the Chairman & Secretary 23 January 2021

This certificate is held in trust for the British Institute of Organ Studies while ever this instrument is maintained in a manner consistent with its historical significance.   Click here to view the certificate.

St Buryan church organ was built by the Truro firm of Heard and Sons in 1901. The manual action is tracker with mechanical drawstops and the pedals pneumatic.  It is certainly one of their best instruments.

The construction is very solid and the beautiful pipework was made and voiced in house. There is one rank in the instrument, the Swell Principal or Gemshorn, that is signed by their voicer William J Brewer 1895. Heard took over the firm of Brewer in 1894. It is a matter of conjecture whether the instrument was built as a complete instrument in 1901 or added to very early in its life time but is certainly all by Heard being very typical of their house style.

The Plymouth firm of Hele & Co cleaned the instrument in the 1920`s and in 1962 carried out a major restoration including replacing the pedalboard and improving the pedal pneumatic action. The Discus electric blower was added in 1948.

The instrument was cleaned and overhauled in 1991 by Lance Foy of Truro. A Fifteenth was added on a spare slide on the swell, the Clarinet revoiced and a balanced swell fitted in place of a trigger pedal.

The organ was originally paid for by Mr James Hawke Dennis the brother-in-law of the Rector at the time, Revd Richard James Martyn. Mr Hawke Dennis also gave a large sum of money towards the construction of one of the Towers of Truro Cathedral and in 1901, on the accession to the throne of King Edward VII, paid for a new Tenor bell for St Buryan church and the re-hanging of the Treble, 2nd and 3rd bells.

The St Buryan organ is as good as any church organ in the area. One of the most impressive stops to find in a village church organ is the Pedal Open Diapason - a very large wooden stop which can be seen on the right-hand side of the organ.                                                                                        

Acknowledgement is due to John Berry and Lance Foy.

 

List of Drawstops:

 

GREAT                                                               Manual compass CC to G 56 notes
                                                                           Pedal Compass CCC to F 30 notes

1.         Open Diapason                                               Metal 8ft

2.         Stopped Bass (from tenor C – for 3 and 4)     Wood 8ft

3.         Clarabella (to T.C)                                           Wood 8ft

4.         Dulciana (to T.C)                                             Metal 8ft

5.         Principal                                                          Metal 4ft

6.         Harmonic Flute                                               Metal 4ft

7.         Twelfth                                                            Metal 2-2/3ft

8.         Fifteenth                                                          Metal 2ft

9.         Clarinet                                                           Metal 8ft

10.       Blow (a relic from hand blown times)

 

SWELL

11.       Double Diapason                                            Wood 16ft

(This stop is a Bourdon. The bottom octave is shared with the Pedal Bourdon and is outside the Swell Box)

12.       Violin Diapason                                               Metal 8ft

13.       Lieblich Gedakt                                               Metal 8ft

14.       Salicional (bottom octave from 13)                  Metal 8ft

15.       Voix Celeste (to T.C)                                       Metal 8ft

16.       Gemshorn                                                       Metal 4ft         Swell Mixture

17.       Fifteenth                                                          Metal 2ft         CC - Mid C 15,19,22

18.       Mixture (15,19,22)                                           Metal                    - Treble F 12,15,19

19.       Oboe                                                               Metal 8ft              - G 8,12,15

20.       Cornopean                                                      Metal 8ft

21.       Tremulant (inoperative)

22.       Swell Octave Coupler

 

PEDAL

23.       Open Diapason                                               Wood 16ft       Action: Manuals – Tracker

24.       Principal                                                          Metal 8ft                     Pedals – Pneumatic

25.       Bourdon                                                          Wood 16ft       Wind Pressure approx. 3” wg

 

COUPLERS

26.       Swell to Great                                                 Balanced Swell Pedal

27.       Swell to Pedal                                                 3 Combination Pedals to Great

28.       Great to Pedal                                                 3 Combination Pedals to Swell

 

 

Powered by Church Edit