Organ Restoration

[rolling carousel of images of organ]

Stage 1

Appointment of an organ expert and agree the scope of the restoration and then seek expert submission to undertake the restoration.

Our expert is William McVicker and our selected restoration partner is Harrison & Harrison Ltd

Stage 2

The next stage is the signing contracts for the restoration works, to ensure a slot for the organ can be confirmed.

This is currently underway with the potential restoration starting in mid 2026 with installation of the restored organ in Easter 2027. In order though to enable the urgent ceiling works to be undertaken in early 2025, we are also looking to have the organ removed in early 2025 and put into storage ready for Harrison & Harrison to commence their works as soon as they have a sot.

A little bit of history and background to this wonderful organ

The organ at Holy Sepulchre, the National Musicians’ Church, has a long and complicated history. It was built by Thomas Harris in the late 17th century (at the time of the restoration after the Great Fire) and was one of the most famous in London. Handel and Mendelssohn are said to have played on it. Samuel Wesley regularly attended Evensong at St. Sepulchre's as he considered the organ at that time the finest in London. His more famous son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, who was renowned for his great skill in extemporisation, used to play on Sunday evenings after the service, and his playing drew great crowds to the church. There are some who still remember the queues which used to form outside the church to hear the organ recitals by George Cooper and later by Dr. Lott - both organists of St. Sepulchre's, and both famous recitalists in their day. Much of the casing and pipework that can be seen today is by Renatus Harris (prob. 1701-2), the famous organ builder responsible for many of the country’s finest instruments from the period. After a series of additions and restorations, the most recent was by Harrison & Harrison in 1932 (and then again in 1966), giving us the instrument that we have today. When that work was completed in 1932, the organ was again considered one of the very finest of its kind in the country, both unique in its compactness but with an ability within in that to produce an extraordinary range of colour.

 An unusual feature is the Pedal 32ft Double Open Wood, which must surely be unique on an organ of this size. It formed part of the previous instrument, and its incorporation was paid for by Nicholson personally. Much of the pipework was similarly reused from the old organ, with only the Great 8ft Salicional and Swell 8ft Cornopean being wholly new. Most of the other pipework was rescaled or revoiced to suit its new role. Of particular interest is Harrison's belief that portions of four stops (Great 16ft Lieblich Bourdon, Great 8ft Octave, Swell 8ft Open Diapason, and Swell 8ft Lieblich Gedeckt) were originally part of the c1676 Harris instrument. Detailed investigations are needed to confirm this. The organ is largely unchanged and represents an important survival. The British Institute of Organ Studies awarded it a Grade II* listing in 2008. Arthur Harrison was evidently proud of it; his memorial service took place there four days after his death. The choir was led by Nicholson, with the organists of Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral playing the Harrison & Harrison instrument."

This was also the organ on which Sir Henry Wood, founder of the Proms concerts, learned his craft as a young man. Various other church musicians of great renown have had close association with it, such as John Ireland, William Walton and Sir Sydney Nicholson. The original coat of arms of Charles II can be seen in wooden carving at the base of the pipework. It is therefore an instrument of immense musical and historical significance, an important part of the heritage of the Church, the City of London and for the musicians’ community as a whole.

Today, Holy Sepulchre undertakes its role as the National Musicians’ Church across five key areas: Education, Wellbeing, Spirituality, Worship and Performance. A high quality pipe organ in the building plays an essential role in each of these areas: it provides the foundation for the choral worship at the church; it is needed for many concerts that take place, either directly with organ or in pieces that require organ. It therefore increases what we and others can do at the church. Furthermore, the choir is in itself an important part of the profile of Holy Sepulchre. So far, it is limited in its ability to record and broadcast effectively with an electronic instrument, which does not sound authentic and lacks the variation in colour and tone that only a pipe organ can provide.

Another area is education: learning the organ has been often the domain of the educated elite. This is understandable. Organs are few and far between and the cost of tuition is expensive. We want to change that by being a place where all have access to organ tuition at the highest possible level, either with our own organist or an esteemed professional. Many children in the city have no access to musical education. Our pipe organ will be a key pillar in that edifice. Unfortunately, the craft of organ playing cannot be learned effectively on an electronic instrument, where much of the skills needed can be ‘manufactured’ through the pressing of a button, but the results are not the same, nor is the sound convincing. We will intend to move our Makin organ to the Henry Wood room to provide an accessible organ for regular practice for many in the City.

Ultimately, at Holy Sepulchre, we want to be a place where we are nurturing the best of the best. For that to happen, we need high quality instruments that are worthy of the title National Musicians’ Church. We want to be a place where musicians of the highest calibre can feel at home. The strength of feeling about the closure of the Musicians’ Church demonstrated how important that is to the musical community. We wish to have an organ that musicians can be proud of, one that musicians queue up to play and to hear as has been its history. “

If you’d like to support the fundraising please click here