St Pius V Catholic Church
256 Edgeware Road, Newtown

(formerly in Stanmore Methodist Church and Newington College Centenary Hall)

Ian Brown & Assoc. 2005 using parts from an older instrument (2/23 mechanical)


Photo: Geoffrey Stutchbury


From SOJ February/March 1979:

With the closure of the Stanmore Methodist Church in 1971, the Newington College Council acquired the church property which adjoined the College. The church proper was in an advanced state of decay and before demolition, inspection of its pipe organ revealed it to have qualities worthy of preservation despite its outwardly decrepit appearance. The organ carried no identification as to its origins, although it was clear that substantial work had been performed on it at different times. In the course of dismantling and subsequent rebuildings, characteristics were encountered that suggest that the organ was a single manual instrument by Davidson, to which a second manual and an extended pedal rank were added by Richardson. The two manual departments stood within a cedar case and had mechanical action; the extended rank of pedal pipes (operated by pneumatic action) stood outside the casework. Swell shutters were operated by a hitch pedal and there vere two combination pedals to each manual.

There is ample evidence that the specification underwent changes from time to time, but when ''inherited'' by the College it comprised:

Great
Open Diapason
Stopped Diapason
Salicional
Echo Viol
Harmonic Flute
Octave
Super Octave

Swell
Bourdon
Horn Diapason
Lieblich Gedact
Viol d'Orch
Gemshorn
Oboe
Clarinet

Pedal
Bourdon
Octave

Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal

Tremulant to Swell

8
8
8
8
4
4
2


16
8
8
8
4
8
8


16
8









TC




TC


Condition of the mechanical action and the very bulk of the instrument as it stood dictated a completely new console and mechanical action being incorporated in a new case of a design and dimensions suitable for placement within the Centenary Hall. The swell organ has been placed above the console with the great organ above the swell and the pedal organ occupying towers on either side. Clear plate glass has been used in the swell shutters. Specification for the rebuilt instrument was influenced by the desire to:

- re-use existing soundboards and good ranks of pipes
- discard inferior and deteriorated pipes
- provide more upperwork to both manuals
- develop useful choruses for each manual
- develop an independent pedal department.

Specification of the new organ comprises:

Great
Open Diapason
Stopped Diapason
Salicional
Principal
Nazard
Fifteenth
Tierce
Mixture 19.22.26.29

Swell
Gedact
Gemshorn
Rohr Flute
Block Flute
Quint
Cymbel 22.26.29
Dulzian
Trumpet

Pedal
Sub Bass
Principal
Bass Flute
Choral Bass
Mixture 17.19.22
Posaune
Schalmei

Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal

8
8
8
4
2-2/3
2
1-3/5
IV


8
4
4
2
1-1/3
III
16
8


16
8
8
4
III
16
4


4 thumb pistons to Great organ
4 thumb pistons to Swell organ
Reversible thumb pinston Swell to Great
Reversible toe piston Great to Pedal
Reversible toe piston Swell to Pedal
4 toe pistons to Pedal organ
Swell tremulant
Balanced Swell pedal


The organ was never reliable in the Centenerary Hall and during the 1990s it was sold and replaced by a large Makin electronic organ. In 2005 the organ was moved to nearby St Pius V Catholic Church in Newtown. It was reconstructed by Manuel da Costa and Ian Brown & Assoc.This has included new wooden trackers and the re-wiring of the electric stop and pedal actions (Plenum March 2006)






The interior of the Methodist Church in Stanmore in 1963 during the school's centenary.


Newington over the years. A History of Newington College 1863 - 1998, P.L. Swain, published by Newington College, 1999. p. 160.