© Maggie Kilbey 2024
Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches
Norfolk
Brandon (St Peter) : Barrel organ. Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (4 Oct. 1873), p.6
Bressingham (St John) : See Surviving instruments
*Brisley (St Bartholomew) : Henry Bevington barrel & finger organ installed 1832. Barrel mechanism removed.
Ref: Ralph Bootman, ‘Some Organs in Norfolk and the Diocese of Norwich’, The Organ (Autumn 1997) pp.194-7
*Diss (St Mary) : Benjamin Flight barrel organ installed 1789. Transferred to Wortham (Suffolk) 1844.
Ref: NRO, PD100/62 Churchwardens’ accounts, PD100/78 (1713), PD100/81 Accounts of sexton/organist (1813-22); William Gardiner,
Music and Friends, or, Pleasant Recollections of a Dilettante, III (London, 1838-53) pp.94-5; Diss Express (5 Nov. 1943) p.5; E. Pursehouse,
Waveney Valley Studies: Gleanings from Local History (Diss, 1966) p.260; Kilbey (2019); NPOR, K00428
*East Raynham (St Mary) : H. Bryceson barrel & finger organ installed 1852. Converted to finger organ.
Ref: NRO, PD369/34 Rector’s Annals of the consolidated rectories of East and West Raynham (1853)
*East Rudham (St Mary) : Robson & Son barrel organ installed 1837. Ref: NRO, PD 415/38-39 Churchwardens’ accounts (1837-67);
Norfolk Chronicle (16 Jun. 1888) p.4; Lynn Advertiser (26 Apr. 1890) p.4; Boston (1959) p.117
*Feltwell (St Mary) : Hill barrel organ installed 1838.
Fersfield (St Andrew) : See Surviving instruments
Garboldisham (St John the Baptist) : H. Bryceson barrel organ installed 1843.
Ref: The Bury and Norwich Post, and East Anglian (8 Nov. 1843); White, Directory (1845) p.423
Gaywood (St Faith) : Samuel Street barrel organ installed 1842. Ref: NRO, PD451/95 Churchwardens’ accounts
Great Bircham (St Mary the Virgin) : T.C. Bates improved barrel organ.
Ref: NRO, PD34/49 R.H. Tomlinson, Notes re Bircham Parish & Church (c.1980); Vaux, Church Folklore (1894); Church Family Newspaper
(24 Mar. 1905); Tower Hamlets Independent and East End Local Advertiser (5 Dec. 1908) p.5
Gunthorpe (St Mary) : Gray & Davison improved barrel organ installed 1844. Ref: Gray & Davison Ledger 4 (1844) p.236
Happisburgh (St Mary the Virgin) : Barrel organ. Ref: NPOR, N06331
*Hardingham (St George) : Barrel organ. Sold 1860. Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (7 Jul. 1860) p.4; Boston (1959) p.116
*Heacham (St Mary) : B. Flight & Son barrel organ installed 1840. Transferred to Thornham 1847.
Ref: NRO, PD699/32 Churchwardens’ accounts; Clement Inglesby (ed.), A Supplement to Blomefield’s Norfolk (London, 1929) p. 85 &
‘The West Window and Gallery in Heacham Church’, c.1850; Boston (1959) p.116
*Hindringham (St Martin) : T.C. Bates & Son improved barrel organ. Transferred to Letheringsett 1950.
Ref: Country Life (6 Nov. 1958), p.1062; C.L.S. Linnell, Letheringsett with Bayfield (Letheringsett, 2000) p.11
Hingham (St Andrew) : William Pilcher barrel organ installed 1840. Transferred to Merton 1878.
Ref: NRO, PD575/78 Churchwardens’ accounts; PD575/190 J. Barham Johnson, A Contribution Towards a History of the Parish Church of
St Andrew, Hingham, Norfolk (Norwich 1889) p.25; Norwich Mercury (21 Oct. 1905) p.7
Hockering (St Michael) : J.W. Walker improved barrel organ installed 1852. Transferred to Mattishall Burgh 1977.
Ref: White, Directory (1854)
*Houghton-next-Harpley (St Martin) : B. Flight & Son barrel organ. Transferred to Houghton Hall stables. Ref: Boston (1959) p.116
*Hoveton (St John) : C. & W. Wheatstone barrel organ installed 1820. Transferred to St Peter Hungate Museum, Norwich 1935,
NWHCM : 1935.11. Ref: Archaeological Journal (1943) p.65 Plate iii fig. D; MacDermott (1948) p.68; Boston (1959) p.116
Kimberley (St Peter) : Barrel organ installed 1839. Ref: White, Directory (1845) p.441
Letheringsett (St Andrew) : See Surviving instruments
Loddon (Holy Trinity) : John Bullen barrel organ installed 1821.
Ref: J. Matchett, The Norfolk and Norwich Remembrancer and Vade-Mecum (Norwich, 1822) p.204
Mattishall Burgh : See Surviving instruments
Merton (Norfolk) (St Peter) : H. Bryceson barrel organ installed 1870. Replaced by William Pilcher barrel organ transferred from
Hingham 1878. Ref: NRO, PD532/20 Churchwardens’ accounts; PD532/32 Geo. Crabbe ‘Annals of Merton’ (from 1851)
Needham (St Peter) : Flight & Robson barrel organ transferred from Starston 1878. Rebuilt c.1880. Sold. Ref: NPOR, N12902
*North Elmham (St Mary) : Mark Noble barrel & finger organ installed 1859. Barrel mechanism removed 1890.
Ref: NRO, PD 209/157 Churchwardens’ accounts; Boston (1959) p.116
North Lopham (St Nicholas) : See Surviving instruments
Norton Subcourse (St Mary) : Bates barrel organ transferred from Blofield 1877. Ref: Elvin (1984) p.102
Norwich (St Giles): Barrel organ. Sold 1851.
Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (1 Nov. 1851) p.3; Eastern Evening News (10 Jul. 1890) p.3; Yarmouth Independent (18 May 1935) p.17
Rackheath Magna (All Saints) : Barrel organ. Ref: Thomas Caddy, Sketches for an Ecclesiology of the Deaneries of Sparham and
Taverham in Norfolk (Norwich, 1846) p.137; Pevsner & Wilson, Norfolk 1, pp.641-2
Rushall (St Michael) : Barrel organ. Sold 1878. Ref: Diss Express (3 May 1878) p.4
Saham Toney (St George) : Barrel organ. Replaced by Gray & Davison barrel organ 1841.
Ref: NRO, PD566/57 Churchwardens’ accounts; BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 3 (1841) p.158
Sisland (St Mary) : Barrel organ. Ref: Gordon Paget, Letter, Sunday Times (23 Apr. 1950); L & B, p.87
Snettisham (St Mary) : Barrel organ. Ref: Peter Murray, The Parish Church of St Mary’s Snettisham Norfolk (2013)
*Stanfield (St Margaret) : Barrel organ.
*Stanhoe (All Saints) : J.C. Bishop barrel & finger organ installed 1845.
*Starston (St Margaret) : Flight & Robson barrel organ installed 1838. Transferred to Needham 1878.
Ref: NRO, PD119/97 Churchwardens’ a/c (1838-82)
*Swafield (St Nicholas) : Flight & Robson barrel organ. Converted to finger organ 1880.
Thetford (St Mary) : Corps of Hampstead barrel & finger organ installed 1859. Sold 1866.
Ref: Bury and Norwich Post (27 Dec. 1859); Norfolk Chronicle (12 May 1866) p.4
*Thornham (All Saints) : B. Flight & Son barrel organ transferred from Heacham 1847. Transferred to Mission Church in South
Africa. Ref: NRO, PD576/81 Churchwardens’ accounts
Thorpe Abbotts (All Saints) : T.C. Bates barrel organ installed 1835. Converted to finger organ 1878. Ref: NPOR, N12901
*Titchwell (St Mary) : Barrel organ.
Tittleshall (St Mary the Virgin) : See Surviving instruments
Walpole St Peter (St Peter & St Paul) : Barrel organ. Ref: Country Life (17 Dec. 1921) p. 834
West Bradenham (St Andrew) : See Surviving instruments
*West Somerton (St Mary) : Samuel Street barrel organ installed 1845.
Ref: Norfolk News (21 June 1845), p.3; Gordon Paget, Letter, Sunday Times (23 Apr. 1950)
Wiggenhall St German (St Germans) : Gray & Davison barrel organ installed 1849.
Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 5 (1849) p.165; Lynn Advertiser (27 May 1921) p.3
Witton (St Margaret) : See Surviving instruments
Woodrising (St Nicholas) : See Surviving instruments
* Listed in Lyndesay G. Langwill & Noel Boston, Church and Chamber Barrel Organs, 2nd edn (Edinburgh, 1970) pp.86-7
Barton Turf
*Attleborough (Assumption of the BVM) : Joseph Walker barrel organ installed
1846. Transferred to collection of Canon Boston.
Ref: Norfolk Record Office (NRO), PD 438/15 Papers relating to alterations (1841-
52); White, Directory of Norfolk (1854); Boston (1959) p.116
*Barnham Broom (St Peter & St Paul) : James Corps of Norwich barrel & finger
organ installed 1850. Barrel mechanism removed.
Ref: NRO, PD326/21 Banks-Upcher Correspondence; Norfolk Chronicle (1 Apr.
1848), p.1 & (9 Sept. 1848), p.2; Norfolk News (20 Apr. 1850), p.2; Eastern Daily Press
(15 May 1935) p.7
*Barton Turf (St Michael) : T.C. Bates & Son barrel organ. Converted to finger
organ c.1870. Ref: NRO, PD187/39 Churchwardens’ accounts
Beeston St Lawrence (St Lawrence) : Barrel organ installed 1826.
Ref: NPOR, N06144
Blofield (St Andrew) : Bishop & Sons barrel organ installed 1848. Replaced by
Bates barrel organ; transferred to Norton Subcourse 1877. Ref: Elvin (1984) p.102
*Boughton (All Saints) : Barrel & finger organ.
Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (4 Oct. 1873), p.6
Photo: M. Kilbey