Restoration of the 1839 Samuel Renn organ at St Mary And All Saints, Great Budworth, Cheshire
This organ is a remarkable survival, since so many of Samuel Renn’s
organs has been wholly or partially destroyed, much of it in recent
years. An account of his work can be read in Michael Sayer’s Samuel
Renn, English Organ Builder (London 1974) and Industrialized Organ-Building
– a Pioneer (in Organ Yearbook volVII 1976). This organ was restored
by Alexander Young in 1886 (who expanded the Pedal organ and reduced
the manual compass), and again by Jardines in 1918 and 1959. We restored
it in 2004.
The organ was made for a gallery against the chancel arch, facing westwards, but was soon moved to a position facing across the chancel, in the north aisle. It is made in Renn’s highly standardised manner, adapted to suit the customer and local conditions. Despite space on the chest and the stop jamb, there seems never to have been a Great Trumpet, till now. The GG manual compasses have been restored, the wind chests dismantled and restored, the bellows re-leathered and the wind system made wind-tight.
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The manual key compass is GG AA – f³. The Swell has a chest starting at c°, and the keys GG – B operate a Choir Bass playing the Pedal Bourdon (following the organ Renn made for the Chester Festival of 1829). The pedal would originally have been GG – c°, with unison open pipes, but Young’s Pedal of 1886 has been kept, C – e¹ Bourdon The pitch is now A440, with tuning slides, which have been retained. The Great Stop Diapason bass is GG – B, the treble c° - f³. The Great Sesquialtera is GG – b°, Cornet c¹ - f³. The swell
has a hitch down pedal, and a box with Venetian swell shutters
and straw-filled hessian panels covering the inside surfaces.
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