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page updated 22^nd March 2008

The Organ of St Ninian’s Church of Scotland, Nairn

In March 1923 an offer of £800 was made to buy the redundant organ from St John’s Church, Glasgow but this offer was unsuccessful. Thus it was decided to commission the present organ from Henry Willis & Sons and Lewis & Co. Ltd* under the supervision of Herbert Walton of Glasgow Cathedral. It was completed in 1924 at a total cost was £2,309. The two manuals are CC to c³, 61 notes, and the ‘Willis’ pedal board is CCC to F, 30 notes.

In 1934 the organ was cleaned and overhauled by Willis at a cost of £57:10s:0d and two years later it was suggested that the console should be reversed but due to the poor financial state of the congregation this idea was rejected. Originally the instrument was blown by a hydraulic engine with hydraulic starter at the console but in 1956 during another overhaul by Willis (at a cost of £319) a ‘Discus’ electric blower costing an additional £150 was installed. The organ was last cleaned and overhauled by Willis in 1986. In October 1993 the maintenance contract was taken over by Harrison & Harrison Ltd of Durham. Tonally the organ remains today exactly as built.

Specification

Great			Swell

1 Lieblich Bordun	16'		9 Geigen Diapason	8'
2 Open Diapason No 1	8'		10 Lieblich Gedacht	8'
3 Open Diapason No 2	8'		11 Echo Viole	8'
4 Claribel Flute	8'		12 Voix Celestes	8'	from C
5 Dulciana	8'		13 Octave Geigen	4'
6 Flute Harmonique	4'		14 Harmonics	III	breaks back
7 Principal	4'		15 Contra Oboe	16'	extended up 1 octave
8 Fifteenth	2'		16 Cornopean	8'

xxi Swell to Great			xxiv Octave
xxii Swell to Great Octave			xxv Sub Octave
xxiii Swell to Great Sub Octave			xxvi Unison Off
			xxvii Tremulant

Pedal

17 Resultant Bass	32'	derived
18 Open Diapason	16'
19 Sub Bass	16'	from no. 1
20 Flute	8'	derived

xxviii Swell to Pedal
xxix Great to Pedal

3 mechanical combination pedals to Great & Pedal

3 mechanical combination pedals to Swell

Reversible mechanical pedal – Great to Pedal

Mechanical pedal – Swell Contra Oboe 16’ + Octave + Unison Off

Mechanical swell pedal – all Swell ranks enclosed

Action: Willis Patent Tubular Pneumatic (exhaust system) throughout

*In 1919 Lewis & Co Ltd, the company started by Thomas Christopher Lewis in 1860/1 and which traded initially as T. C. Lewis, entered into a merger with Henry Willis & Sons. Due to the legal difficulty of a partnership taking over a limited company the combined firm traded for somewhat less than five years as Henry Willis & Sons and Lewis & Co Ltd until, in 1925, the Lewis name disappeared.

The Console

The organ has 1,116 speaking pipes; the display pipes you can see are the Pedal Open Diapason. The biggest pipes are about 12 inches (30cm) wide and 16 feet (5m) high. The smallest ones are just a ¼ inch (6mm) wide and 2½ inches (6½cm) tall.

The pipes for the Swell manual are all enclosed in the swell box, which necessitates some fancy “plumbing”.

In 2007, during some routine maintenance work in the blower room below the organ, a copy of the programme from the original opening recital of the organ given by Herbert Walton on Monday 24th November 1924 was found lying on the floor. To view the programme click here.

To view the ptogramme your computer will need to have installed. Most reasonably modern computers already have this, but if yours does not it can be downloaded FREE by clicking here and following the instructions.

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