© Maggie Kilbey 2024
Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches
Cambridgeshire
Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire)
Babraham (St Peter) : Barrel organ.
Ref: Saffron Walden Weekly News (28 May 1909) p.8
*Balsham (Holy Trinity) : Joseph Walker barrel & finger organ installed 1839.
Transferred to Roseworth (Durham) 1956.
Ref: Cambridgeshire Archives, P7/28/35 ms hymn tunes; Musical Opinion (Jan.
1941); MacDermott (1948) p.67; Boston (1959) p.109
Barrington (All Saints) : Barrel organ.
Ref: The Reminiscences of Sir Barrington Beaumont (London, 1902)
Barton (St Peter) : T.C. Bates barrel organ installed 1848.
Ref: Cambridgeshire Archives, P10/1/2 subscriptions for barrel organ (1848),
P10/1/4 Register of Marriages (1813-37)
*Buckworth (All Saints) : Barrel organ.
Godmanchester (St Mary the Virgin) : Barrel organ installed 1836.
Northampton Mercury (11 Jun. 1836) p.4; Cambridge Independent Press (14 Apr. 1905) p.7; Peterborough Advertiser (13 May 1911) p.2
Leighton Bromswold (St Mary) : Gray & Son barrel organ installed 1840. Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 3 (1840) p.180
*Waresley (St James the Great) : T.J.F. Robson barrel organ. Bedfordshire Magazine, vol.3 no.19, p.103
* Listed in Lyndesay G. Langwill & Noel Boston, Church and Chamber Barrel Organs, 2nd edn (Edinburgh, 1970) p.81
*Bassingbourn (St Peter & St Paul) : Joseph Walker barrel & finger organ installed 1825. Transferred to Meldreth 1865.
Ref: ‘Parishes: Bassingbourn’, A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: vol.8 (London, 1982) pp.12-30, BHO
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol8/pp12-30 [accessed 5 Mar. 2022]
Bottisham (Holy Trinity) : Barrel organ installed 1848. Converted to finger organ 1864.
Ref: Cambridgeshire Archives, P31/8/1 Vestry minutes; Cambridge Chronicle and Journal (30 Apr. 1864) p.5; ‘Bottisham: Churches’ A
History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: vol.10 (London, 2002) pp.215-20, BHO http://www.british-
history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol10/pp215-220 [accessed 5 Mar. 2022]
*Brinkley (St Mary the Virgin) : Barrel organ. Converted to finger organ.
*Burwell (St Mary the Virgin) : Henry Bevington barrel organ installed 1825.
Ref: ‘Burwell: Churches’ A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: vol.10 (London, 2002) pp.358-64,
BHO http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol10/pp358-364 [accessed 7 Mar. 2022]
Cambridge (Holy Trinity) : John Lincoln barrel & finger organ installed 1794. Ref: Cambridge General Advertiser (22 May 1839) p.4;
Musical Standard (22 Jan. 1870) pp.40-1; Shields Daily News (4 Aug. 1900) p.1; Kilbey (2019)
Cambridge (Round Church) : Dawson barrel organ installed 1846. Ref: Essex Herald (1 Sept. 1846) p.4
*Cambridge (St Edward King & Martyr) : John Gray barrel organ installed 1838.
Ref: Cambridgeshire Archives, P28/5/49 Subscription list and vouchers (1838-75)
*Cottenham (All Saints) : Hill & Co. barrel & finger organ installed 1847. Barrel mechanism removed 1966.
Foxton (St Lawrence) : Barrel organ. Ref: ‘Parishes: Foxton’ A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: vol.8 (London, 1982)
pp.165-177, BHO http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol8/pp165-177 [accessed 7 Mar. 2022]
*Gamlingay (St Mary the Virgin) : Gray & Davison improved barrel organ installed 1847.
Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison ledger 4 (1847) p.291; Herts & Cambs Reporter & Royston Crow (10 Mar. 1905) p.6
Grantchester (St Andrew & St Mary) : Barrel organ installed 1833.
Ref: Jose Hopkins, ‘A Thorough Master of His Art: A.T. Miller of Cambridge’, The Organ, vol.75 (Summer 1996) pp.129-31
*Great Wilbraham (St Nicholas) : Bevington & Son barrel organ. Converted to finger organ c.1886.
*Harston (All Saints) : Barrel organ sold 1847.
*Histon (St Andrew) : H. Bryceson barrel organ. Ref: Saffron Walden Weekly News (5 Apr. 1935) p.5
Horseheath (All Saints) : Barrel organ installed 1840. Converted to finger organ c.1876. Ref: NPOR, N08520
*Landbeach (All Saints) : Barrel organ. Scrapped 1961. Ref: Boston (1959) p.109
*Little Abington (St Mary) : Barrel organ.
*Littleport (St George) : Hill barrel organ installed 1838. Ref: Cambridge Chronicle (7 Nov. 1863); Lynn Advertiser (3 Dec. 1887) p.5
Meldreth (Holy Trinity) : See Surviving instruments
*Milton (Cambs) (All Saints) : H. Bryceson barrel organ installed 1840. Ref: Saffron Walden Weekly News (23 Aug. 1935) p.5; W.K. Clay,
A History of the Parish of Milton (Cambridge, 1869) p.47; ‘Milton: Church’ A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: vol.9
(London, 1989) pp.186-90, BHO http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp186-190 [accessed 7 Mar. 2022]
Murrow (Corpus Christi) : Barrel & finger organ installed 1800. Barrel mechanism removed 1892. Ref: NPOR, D00177
*Sawston (St Mary) : Barrel organ. Converted to finger organ 1854.
Stanground (St John) : Barrel organ. Ref: Peterborough Standard (12 Jan. 1951) p.1
Swaffham Prior (St Cyriac) : Now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Barrel organ. Ref: Cambridge Independent Press (18
Nov. 1865) p.8; Cambridge Chronicle and Journal (16 Jun. 1866) p.8; ‘Swaffham Prior: Churches’, in: A History of the County of Cambridge
and the Isle of Ely: vol.10 pp.294-301, BHO http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol10/pp294-301 [accessed 7 Mar. 2022]
*Tadlow (St Giles) : T.C. Bates & Son dumb organist. Ref: Budgen (1997)
Trumpington (St Mary & St Michael) : J.W. Walker barrel & finger organ installed 1851. Ref: NPOR, R02020
Waterbeach (St John the Evangelist) : Gray & Davison barrel organ installed 1846. Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison ledger 4 (1846) p.276
West Wickham (St Mary) : Barrel organ. Ref: NPOR, N12701
* Listed in Lyndesay G. Langwill & Noel Boston, Church and Chamber Barrel Organs, 2nd edn (Edinburgh, 1970) pp.70-1
Photo: M. Kilbey
Barrington