© Maggie Kilbey 2025
Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches
Bedfordshire
[*Ampthill : NOT A BARREL ORGAN.]
Ref: Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service (BARS), P30/5/1 Churchwardens’
accounts (1718-1816); Maggie Kilbey ‘The early use of barrel organs in the English
parish church’, JBIOS, 43 (2019) pp.58-71
Arlesey (St Peter) : Barrel organ scrapped 1850; replaced by another barrel organ.
Ref: Biggleswade Chronicle (18 Jun. 1937) p.3
*Bedford (St Mary) : William Allen barrel organ installed 1804. Sold to Stagsden.
Ref: C.W. Pearce, Notes on English Organs of the Period 1800-1810 (London, 1912)
p.128; H. Holman, ‘Barrel organs in history’, Etude Music Magazine (Feb. 1941) p.93
*Blunham (St Edmund) : Barrel organ installed 1827.
Ref: F.C. Hamlyn, ‘In Quires and Places where they Sing ... The Gallery Musicians of
Bedfordshire’, The Bedfordshire Magazine, III no.19 (Winter 1951/52) pp.99-103
*Clophill (St Mary the Virgin) : Barrel organ.
*Cockhayne Hatley (St John the Baptist) : Barrel organ. Ref: Biggleswade Chronicle (26 Nov. 1937) p.1
[*Eaton Socon : NOT A BARREL ORGAN.]
Ref: BARS, P5/5/2 Churchwardens accounts (1794-1838); Bedfordshire Mercury (13 Jan. 1866) p.3; Hamlyn (1951); Kilbey (2019)
Elstow (Abbey Church) : Joseph Walker barrel organ installed 1845. Converted to finger organ 1868. Ref: NPOR, D01182
*Everton (St Mary) : Barrel organ. Transferred to Burstwick (Yorks.) 1852. Ref: Hamlyn (1951)
*Flitton (St John the Baptist) : Gray & Davison improved barrel organ installed 1843. Converted to finger organ 1887.
Ref: Bedfordshire Times and Independent (15 Jun. 1906) p.2; Ampthill & District News (16 Jun. 1906) p.4
*Higham Gobion (St Margaret) : Barrel organ installed 1849.
Ref: BARS, P125/1/5 Register of Baptisms (1813-1993); Bedfordshire Magazine, vol.10 no.79 (Winter 1966/7) p.308
Langford (St Andrew) : Barrel organ. Ref: NPOR, D00222
*Luton (St Mary) : Barrel organ. 2 barrels transferred to Luton museum.
Ref: Luton Times and Advertiser (3 Mar. 1899) p.5; Hamlyn (1951)
*Meppershall (St Mary the Virgin) : J.W. Walker barrel & finger organ installed 1859.
Ref: Bedfordshire Times and Independent (9 Mar. 1945) p.8
*Old Warden (St Leonard) : Gray & Davison barrel organ installed 1842.
Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 3 (1842) p.153; Musical Times (1 Nov. 1899) p.737
*Pavenham (St Peter) : Barrel organ installed 1841.
Ref: C.D. Linnell, ‘Annals of the Village II - the Churchwardens’, Bedfordshire Magazine, vol.4 no.26 (Autumn 1953) pp.59-62
Podington (St Mary the Virgin) : Barrel organ. Transferred to private collection 1905.
Ref: BARS, P127/28/26 Note by the Rev T. Woolfenden (1954)
Potton (St Mary) : J.C. Bishop barrel organ installed 1826. Ref: Thistlethwaite (2001)
*Renhold (All Saints) : Bevington & Sons organ & dumb organist installed 1889. Sold 1957.
Ref: Bedfordshire Magazine, vol.6 no.43 (Winter 1957/8) p.121
Sandy (St Swithun) : J.W. Walker barrel & finger organ installed 1853. Transferred to Abthorpe (Northants.) 1872. Ref: NPOR, R01310
*Shillington : Dumb organist.
Ref: BARS, P44/5/3 Churchwardens accounts (1775-1829); Bedfordshire Times and Independent (15 May 1858) p.3
Southill (All Saints) : Joseph Walker barrel organ. Ref: NPOR, N09427
*Stagsden (St Leonard) : William Allen barrel organ. Transferred from Bedford (St Mary). Converted to finger organ.
Ref: Noel A. Bonavia-Hunt, ‘The Organ in Stagsden Church’, Musical Opinion (Jun. 1965) pp.551-3
Stotfold (St Mary the Virgin) : John Gray barrel organ. Transferred from Exton (Rutland) 1844. Sold/scrapped c.1980.
Ref: NPOR, D02415
Sutton (Beds) (All Saints) : See Surviving instruments
*Woburn (St Mary) : Flight & Robson barrel organ installed 1813.
Ref: BARS, P118/5/4 Churchwardens’ accounts (1753-1834), R4/608/35/20 Letter (1816); Kilbey (2020)
Yelden (St Mary) : Gray & Davison barrel organ installed 1850. Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 5 (1850) p.192
* Listed in Lyndesay G. Langwill & Noel Boston, Church and Chamber Barrel Organs, 2nd edn (Edinburgh, 1970) pp.69-70
Photo: M. Kilbey
Stotfold