St.George’s Church is fortunate in having a pipe organ built in the final quarter of the 19^th Century, at a time when no expense was spared on the quality of materials used in its construction and when every last detail of design and assembly was assured by skilled craftsmen.

Further work of adding to and reconstructing the instrument in 1922 and 1978 followed these traditions sympathetically and with restraint to produce the well-integrated fine organ as it stands today.

While this organ is not the largest instrument in the area in terms of number of stops, it does have the distinction of standing in an open position where the sound is freely projected into the warmly reverberant church building. Each of the several thousand pipes contained within the instrument speaks with unmuffled clarity of tone.

In skilled hands the instrument produces sounds of great beauty, from the quietest single flute tones to the noble grandeur of the full organ . . . but don’t take our word for it – come and hear the instrument for yourself at any of our main services !

The mottled effect which you can see on the surface of the pipes on both sides of the organ case is distinctive. Most of the metal pipes in the interior of the organ are made from this ‘spotted metal’ (a special alloy) – at the time of the instrument’s construction this was one of the most expensive materials available, and it contributes greatly to the rounded and magnificent tone of this organ.

From the specification of the instrument you can see that there is astonishingly little duplication of ranks of pipes at different pitches or in different divisions of the organ . . again an indication of its very high quality.

The display pipes visible above the player’s head are part of the lowest octave of the Great Open Diapasons Nos.2 & 3 cleverly arranged alternately. The turrets on either side contain the lowest notes of the Great Double Open Diapason 16’

On the other side of the organ case, facing down into the nave of the church, is the bass register of the largest Great Open Diapason (No.1), with the row of Pedal 16’ Violone behind.

The large dark outline of the swell box (with its movable shutters housing one complete division of the organ) is visible inside the organ, high against the north wall. The tops of the pipes of the powerful Pedal Ophicleide 16’ can be seen fixed just below the window high against the east wall of the organ chamber.

Hawkins (Lichfield) 1978*

The organ is currently tuned and maintained by Rod Billingsley (Organ Builders).

A fine CD recording of the instrument (together with several other notable organs in Newcastle-under-Lyme) is available. The soloist is Paul Derrett – ‘Benchmarks, Volume 2’ (806802CD)

If you are a musician and would like to try the instrument, contact the Organist (Geoffrey Walker) Tel: 01782 615941