Pembridge Church

Pembridge Church
St Mary's Church, Pembridge, Herefordshire
Part of the Arrowvale Group of Parishes


Organ Pipes



Organ

The organ in Pembridge church was built by the Sheffield firm of Brindley and Foster in 1878. Originally it consisted of eleven stops, three more were prepared for and added shortly afterwards by the same company when money was available. These stops (marked *) were donated in memory of three locals. Originally it was hand-pumped and this method has had to be used recently during power failures! An electric blower was fitted in the 1920s, and congregations at St Mary's complained at first that it made the electric lights go dim! No pleasing some people...

Brindley & Foster were not one of the most prolific organ builders in Britain but their organs are always of very good tone, even if organists complained they were sometimes slow to the touch and sluggish to play! The Pembridge organ is of excellent tone and in full working order, having been extensively cleaned and a new blower fitted by Nicholson's of Malvern in 2000. A canopy was also installed over the pipes of the Great division to remedy the problem of bat droppings getting into the instrument!

The specification of the organ is as follows:

GREAT

  • Open Diapason 8 foot
  • Hohl Flute 8 ft
  • Dulciana 8 ft
  • Principal 4 ft
  • Harmonic Flute 4 ft
  • Clarionet 8 ft*

SWELL

  • Violin Diapason 8 ft
  • Lieblich Gedackt 8 ft
  • Vox Angelica 8 ft*
  • Salicet 4 ft
  • Mixture 3 ranks
  • Oboe 8 ft
  • Cornopean 8 ft*

PEDAL

  • Bourdon 16 ft

An 8 ft Violone stop was prepared for but as far as is known was never installed on the pedal. A balanced swell pedal was fitted to the organ in 1995 (?) in memory of Dr John Bishop.