Portfolio of new organs

St Mark’s, Newnham (2015)
2 manuals  30 stops

St Mark’s previous organ, built by George Benson of Norwich, dated from 1907. It had been rebuilt by Miller of Cambridge in 1911, and then given electric action by Norman Hall & Sons of Cambridge in 1973.

In 2015 the church asked Henry Groves & Son to redesign the instrument. Using the modular system that we have developed in recent years, we rebuilt the organ on a new mezzanine floor, retaining the original front and side casework and panelling, with the console attached to the case at ground level as before, and so provided much-needed vestry space beneath.

By incorporating some fine quality vintage pipework and using minimal extension and derivation, we have achieved what we consider to be an interesting and flexible specification. The 20 independent registers (delivering 30 speaking stops), provide a wide range of colours, including two diapason choruses up to mixture, a powerful full Swell, and an effective, supportive pedal.

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions the organ has not been tuned since December 2019. However, the organ was recorded on March 17th 2021 by Louisa Denby on Youtube and you can hear how well the organ has remained in tune.

For a detailed assessment of the organ, see Paul Hale’s article in the December 2015 issue of Organists’ Review (pdf in new tab/window).