THE ORGANS OF St. MARY'S COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL.
In 1860, a fine organ was built halfway down the Nave of the Collegiate Church by Telfords of Dublin, then at some later time, certainly by 1890, it was moved by Harrisons of Durham to the chancel, where, we assume, it was of greater use to the regular worship. There are a number of archive pictures of the organ in both of its homes, two of which now hang in the south aisle in the Collegiate Church.
Pictured here is the Harrison Organ in the High Chancel that was removed at least in the early 1980s or late 1970s. Also pictured is the large Parish Choir of the time. This picture hangs in the church, as does a similar one which pictures the organ in its original position down the Nave.
The Organ (which was a fine one as far as we know) survived until the late 1970s until the church accepted the kind gift of the Late Mrs. Harvey-Williams of a replacement electronic instrument, which gave many years of good service. This instrument, in turn, was replaced at some point by another similar model and the electronic instrument that now stands in the chancel is the second one in about 25 years. We understand that parts of the Harrison instrument are now in the church in Ring, County Waterford.
THE REMOVAL, RESTORATION AND RE-BUILDING OF THE BRISTOL ORGAN
Early in 2007 a number of extraordinary co-incidences put the Vestry into an exciting and enviable position and the organ that is now in the north bay of the crossing is the result of both luck and hard work.
With the aged electronic instrument regularly failing, and with an emerging choral foundation, the arrangement at the time became wholly unsuitable. An organ of distinugished history and specification was discovered in a recently closed church in Bristol in England and the Vestry was able to accept the kind offer of it from the Diocese of Bristol.
The Organ is quite a large instrument with a rounded English Swell and a full Great Diapason Chorus with Mixture and Great Reed. It has a very ample Pedal Organ and a balanced swell pedal. The action is tracker action throughout and there is a super-octave coupler. The action is beautifully regulated and never too heavy, even when fully coupled up. A platform of about 16'' in height helps for the sound to project into the church and enables the organist to be in a perfect position for services in both the Chancel (the regular place for Sunday Worship) and also for large services and concerts in the Nave. The organist faces North. There are two feeders so that the organ can be hand blown if necessary. A new blower from Lauchauff in Germany is housed in a purpose-built baffle box behind the organ. The organ stands at about 20' high on its platform and occupies the North bay of the crossing.
FUNDING
If you've read this far, you might find it difficult to imagine how extensive work such as this could ever be funded by the Vestry and it's impossible to get away from the fact that it is a large sum of money indeed. The costs are high because a team of experts had to go to Bristol and take the organ down over a number of days and pack up every individual part. The organ was then removed to County Cork and re-assembled in exactly the same way. Further, a new blower was required, some restoration work was inevitable and a special timber platform had to be built at the North side of the crossing. The costs were far beyond what the vestry could pay for on its own. Accordingly, the Vestry is most grateful to the anonymous person who kindly agreed to donate a large sum to guarantee this project. This extremely generous donation, together with some funding from the Vestry and another donation from a second individual made up the balance, together with funding from the Organ Trust of our own Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
Here below are some details that were taken from time to time during the removal and reconstruction of the organ:
Tuesday 10th July
Much of the casework of the organ is now in place; The manuals are in position and are being linked up; the blower has arrived from Germany and Paul Neiland hopes to have wind on by next week. The platform is being clad with vertical timber and will be stained soon. The organ loft is being devised at the moment. It will involve heavy curtains, timber rails and brass rails with a small staircase.
Tuesday 19th June
Neilands are currently involved with certain items of restoration in the workshop and we are waiting for the new blower to come from Germany. The Rev'd Des Tucker, the previously of St. Michaels in Bristol, has been in touch again. He has kindly gone to quite some trouble in the archives in Bristol. The fascinating material that he has kindly sent to us has been included in the historical section of these pages.
Wednesday 16th May 2007
Quite a lot has happened in the last few weeks. Following a short break for Holy Week and Easter, Neilands erected scaffolding in order to erect the superstructure of the organ. The main timber frame is now in place as well as a the main bellows, some of the case pipes and most of the large pipes belonging to the pedal organ. It's wonderful to see the organ taking shape and everyone agrees that it looks very much as though it had always stood at this perfect position at the crossing. In fact, it has come to our attention that an earlier instrument in the church once stood in the present position.
Last week, the Organist received a welcome phone call from The Rev' d Des Tucker, who was one of the last Rectors of the Bristol Church where the organ used to live. He has very kindly agreed to undertake some research in the city archive there, and he has given us the exciting information that some parts of the organ were very probably from an earlier instrument still, as there is a Vestry record which states that the organ was 100 years old when it was purchased in 1790. More to follow including some archive pictures of the organ following a narrow escape when a bomb destroyed most of the church, except for the organ. Pictures of recent work may be seen below:
Saturday 31st March 2007
The organ has now arrived in Youghal in about 1000 pieces. The Rector arranged with An Garda Síochána for roads to be closed around the church in order to facilitate the massive container.
It took a great deal of tricky management to get the container near enough to the church for unloading
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The platform having nearly been completed now, is in the correct position following many hours of careful calculations by Neilands and the organ has been unloaded.
It is astonishing to see the sheer scale of some of the pipes and Neilands themselves were surprised at the weight of some of the components.
With all the unloading done and everything ready for re-construction to begin, Neilands are now pausing for Holy Week and Easter Week.
The photographs here shew some of the parts of the organ, yet in its divers parts!
Friday 30th March 2007
Today, the following message come from Mr. Nigel Sherratt, who is the Diocesan Officer in charge of the organ in Bristol. He has been dealing with the very lengthy process of planning permission etc., in Bristol and has been helped us hugely when we have visited Bristol. We've been lucky that Mr. Sherratt is an organist himself and so understands the 'nuts and bolts' of the whole complicated subject.
Dear Ian
Just a quick line to let you know that Paul and his team finished work here this morning. They are presently on their way back to Ireland. I had not appreciated what a mammoth undertaking it would be to dismantle it (let alone rebuild it! The work appears to have gone well, and there is a large “void” in the church where the organ was.
I hope and pray that the rebuilding works go smoothly in St Mary’s and that the organ will soon be in regular use and enhancing your worship.
With all good wishes for a very happy and blessed Easter.
Kind regards
Nigel
Monday 26th March 2007 and general progress in Bristol
Yesterday, when people came to church they got quite a surprise to see the opened up space with work in hand so soon.
With work on the platform now begun here in Cork, the Organ Builders are very busy in Bristol. Ian Sexton was on the phone to them this morning and they were able to report that the organ is now about two thirds down and so things are ahead of schedule. As anticipated, compared to the way things are in most of Ireland, it is a very difficult matter when it comes to getting near to the church in a van. As you can see below, it's a tricky spot in the centre of a bad place for traffic, much worse than Cork City and something like Dublin. Further, the church is high up with the only access by a sort of triangle with two busy roads that are 'clearways' coming down each corner to sort of intersection. Below you can see the situation from above
Here below you can see pictures of the organ as it comes down in Bristol:.
Below left, reeds in the swell box and right, Paul Neiland (front) and one of his assistants (we will find his name) remove one of the bottom open wood pipes from the pedal organ
 
Below left, part of the Great upper work and right, the case still standing following the removal of most of the case pipes
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Below left, the pedal board and some of the exposed trackers, and right, more trackersleading to the swell manual and the coupling mechanism |
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Below left, behind the removed console and right, removing trackers and stickers
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Below left, the case almost down and right, Paul Neiland on top of the swell box before it too comes down |
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Below left, the empty space. The organ has been in that position for at least 123 years and it may have stood there before that. Oh and a snap from the ferry as the organ leaves from Swansea in Wales to come here. |
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Friday 23rd March 2007
The Organ Builders are taking the ferry from Rosslare to Pembroke to-day and beginning work in Bristol tomorrow.
Thursday 22nd March 2007
To-day the Organ Builders have visited the church to make final preparations for the beginning of the platform. We have also had a nice big poster made to put up at the crossing to explain to people what is happening as a result of all the work and disruption.
Wednesday 21st March 2007
The screen at the entrance to the Lady Chapel has been taken down to-day. This screen, although not an ancient one, is important to the community and it will be re-erected in the Lady Chapel when the Organ is completed. It was extremely difficult to take down.  ... a picture taken with a camera phone of the screen partly down.
Tuesday 20th March 2007
To-day we heard the great news that our Diocesan Organ Trust has agreed to give us a grant towards the costs of the organ. We are extremely grateful to them for this support.
Wednesday 14th March 2007
Timber for the platform has been delivered to the Church and left in the North Aisle of the Nave so that it can begin to adjust to the temperature and humidity of the building before construction begins.
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> History of the 'Bristol Organ'
Here is a sketchy potted history:
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The Bristol Organ is far from new. If we track its history back from the current time, its lineage is as follows:
Eastertide 2007: Moved and restored by Neilands of Wexford, from the Closed Church of St. Michael-on-the-Mount-Without in the City of Bristol, England, to the North Bay of the Crossing of the Great Nave in St. Mary's Collegiate Church, Ireland.
1994: Full restoration by R.D. Taylor, Organ Builders, Gloucestershire.
1939: Restoration and enlargement by Vowles of Bristol.
1884 - 1887: Organ re-built and enlarged by Vowles of Bristol using the pipework of an earlier smaller instrument, possibly by Smith of Bristol.
1793s: Organ sold to St. Michael's.
1690: Original instrument built, probably in the West of England or Bristol.
Information thanks to BIOS, R.D. Taylor Esq. & The Rev'd Des Tucker. |
We don't know where the organ started its life. Probably in a church or chapel in or around Bristol, but it appears that it was sold to St. Michael's in 1793 by Mr. Brodrip, an organist. It was reported to be about 100 years old then. The organ was placed in the gallery of St. Michael's (the present gallery was put there in 1785). Here is an archive painting of the organ as it was in the gallery, taken from a coloured painting in the Vestry of St. Michael's.
It's hard to work out exactly when the organ moved from the gallery to the chancel but it seems likely that it was during 1883, at the time when it was re-built by Vowles.
Smith of Bristol (the senior) probably put the organ in the gallery (interestingly he is the ancestor of one of the people who married into the Vowles family) and Smith, too, re-built and enlarged the organ in 1819. In 1837 a third manual was added.. There were further repairs and improvements in 1841. In 1865 Vowles was involved in a large works and then again there was a very large re-build / re-model of 1884 - 1887 by Vowles. The organ was enlarged by Vowles in 1939 to its present size and more work was undertaken in the 1960s. In 1994, thanks to the considerable efforts of The Rev'd Des Tucker, the Priest-in-Charge at the time, a considerable restoration was completed by the Builder R.D. Taylor. It is because such a fine job was undertaken at that time that the Collegiate Church in Youghal has inherited an organ that is already in such a beautiful condition. We are most grateful to the works of R.D. Taylor and the Rev'd Des Taylor.
The church was badly bombed during the war, as was a good part of the ancient City of Bristol. The roof was lost and all the interior destroyed. However, the organ did not suffer. Here is a picture of the church taken shortly after a temporary roof was errected following the bomb. It's just possible to see one the large pedal pipes on the left:
Here below is an extract from vestry minutes from 18th and 19th century, concerning the organ:
 
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THE DIOCESE OF BRISTOL & St. MICHAEL'S-on-the-MOUNT-WITHOUT
St. Michael's-on-the-Mount-Without is a large and impressive building in the immediate environs of the world-famous University of Bristol. Like many city centre churches however, the congregation was struggling there in recent times due, in part, to the fact that city centres in England are not populated in the same way as they once were. A few years ago the church was forced to close its doors as costs became impossible and numbers ever smaller.
We are most grateful to the Diocese of Bristol and to the staff of the Diocesan Office for all their assistance, both in correspondence and kindness that we received when we have visited Bristol during 2007. Further, the organ was donated to us free of charge, on the understanding that it was for regular use in the Anglican Church, and we would like to offer our sincere thanks for this very special, timely and much-needed gift. Anyone is most welcome in St. Mary's at any service and outside service times too. St. Michael's-on-the-Mount-Without and the Diocese of Bristol is specially remembered and recorded on the organ here in County Cork.
We are most grateful to the City-of Bristol Council, the Church of England, the Diocese of Bristol, the United Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross and the Urban District Council in Youghal for the various necessary approvals for this important project.
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Below, the organ in St. Michael-on-the-Mount Without >>>.............................>>>the organ in St. Mary's Collegiate Church, Youghal
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