The pipe organ was made by Conacher & Co of Huddersfield. It was gifted by Mrs Mary Barton in memory of her late father William Jackson, in 1873 at the Centenary celebration of the ‘Chapel’. It is a two manual tracker-action with a thirty note pneumatically operated pedal board CCC to F. It was, of course manually blown. The original specification lists are as follows:
Great organ CC to G 56 notes
Open diapason (metal); 8ft
Stopped diapason (metal); 8ft
Dulciana (metal & wood); 8ft
Principal (metal); 4ft
Flute (wood); 4ft
Fifteenth (metal); 2ft
Swell organ CC to G 56
notes
Open Diapason (metal & wood); 8ft
Double diapason (wood); 16ft
Stopped diapason (wood); 8ft
Gemshorn (metal); 4ft
Oboe (metal); 8ft
Horn (metal); 8ft
Pedal organ CCC to F 30 notes
Bourdon (wood); 16ft
Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedals
Great to Pedals
Sub-coupler Swell to Great
Three composition pedals
Wilton Atkinson, who has provided much of the information for this article recalls being one of the ‘blower-boys’ prior to the blower being fitted with an electric motor and fan blower in 1933. He reminded me that the ‘blower-boys’ got a bit bored during the lengthy sermons and some engraved their initials in the woodwork of the organ adjacent to the seat they occupied. The electric motor was fitted 60 years after the organ was installed for £100 and lasted until around 1990 when the burnt-out motor was rewound by a local firm in Lancaster for approximately £120. A major refurbishment was carried out circa 1980, during which the original straight pedal board was replaced with a convex and radial board and the following additional changes made – Great – the 8ft flute was removed and a 2 rank Mixture added
Swell – the Oboe was replaced with another Oboe
Coupler – the Sub Coupler was converted to a Super Swell Coupler
The oboe rank proved a disappointment and in the early 1990s this was removed and a 2 rank mixture added to the swell, which provided a better balance between Swell and Great.
The organ continues to serve the Church well and Trinity is delighted to be included in the annual Lancaster Organ Festival, generally held in June each year. One might ponder the value of cash invested in this instrument and the service it has given, with that invested in organs using digital technology – ‘electronic’ organs. They are good; they certainly have a valid place in the production of all sorts and styles of music and have improved dramatically as digital technology has moved on but such technology rapidly becomes out of date and just like computers, they need to be renewed every 5/10 years or so. The Conacher organ is now 139 years old with one major ‘refit’. That record speaks for itself!
Information about the history and current activities of Conacher and Co may be seen at www.pcuk.net/musiclink.co.uk/conacher/history.html
