© Maggie Kilbey 2025
Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches
Cumberland (now Cumbria)
Alston (St Augustine) : Bevington & Sons barrel organ transferred from private house 1852. Transferred to Nenthead 1881.
Ref: NPOR, N01522
Bromfield (St Mungo) : Barrel & finger organ. Ref: Wigton Advertiser (12 Nov. 1881), p.4; Musical Opinion (1 May 1892) pp. 361-2
Calder Bridge (St Bridget) : Timothy Russell barrel & finger organ installed 1843.
Ref: Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser (30 May 1843) p.2
Gosforth (St Mary) : Barrel organ. Ref: Kelly's Directory (1929) p.154
*Nenthead (St John) : Bevington & Sons barrel organ transferred from Alston 1881.
Westward (St Hilda) : Gray & Davison barrel organ installed 1849.
Ref: Cumbria Archive Centre, PR 56/32 Subscription book and two letters re acquisition of a barrel organ (1849)
Wigton (St Mary) : Barrel organ replaced by another 1858. Ref: Wigton Advertiser (1 Nov. 1858) p.1
* Listed in Lyndesay G. Langwill & Noel Boston, Church and Chamber Barrel Organs, 2nd edn (Edinburgh, 1970) p.73
Westmorland (now Cumbria)
Bowness-on-Windermere (St Martin) : Barrel organ. Sold 1847. Ref: Liverpool Albion (14 Jun. 1847) p.5
Burton-in-Kendal (St James) : J. & W. Holt barrel organ. Ref: Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal (23 Dec. 1853) p.2
Kirby Lonsdale (St Mary) : Barrel organ installed 1799. Ref: Gerald Sumner, 'Wilkinson & Son of Kendal: the origins and history of the
firm in the nineteenth century', JBIOS 31 (2007) p.102