© Maggie Kilbey 2024
Barrel Organs in English Parish Churches
Norfolk
Brandon : Barrel organ.
Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (4 Oct. 1873), p.6
Bressingham : See Surviving instruments
*Brisley : 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 : 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 : 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 : Hill barrel organ installed 1838.
Fersfield : See Surviving instruments
Garboldisham : H. Bryceson barrel organ installed 1843.
Ref: The Bury and Norwich Post, and East Anglian (8 Nov. 1843); White, Directory (1845) p.423
Gaywood : Samuel Street barrel organ installed 1842.
Ref: NRO, PD451/95 Churchwardens’ accounts
Great Bircham : 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 : Gray & Davison improved barrel organ installed 1844.
Ref: Gray & Davison Ledger 4 (1844) p.236
Happisburgh : Barrel organ.
Ref: NPOR, N06331
*Hardingham : Barrel organ. Sold 1860.
Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (7 Jul. 1860) p.4; Boston (1959) p.116
*Heacham : 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 : 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 : 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 : J.W. Walker improved barrel organ installed 1852. Transferred to Mattishall Burgh 1977.
Ref: White, Directory (1854)
*Houghton-next-Harpley : B. Flight & Son barrel organ. Transferred to Houghton Hall stables.
Ref: Boston (1959) p.116
*Hoveton : 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 : Barrel organ installed 1839.
Ref: White, Directory (1845) p.441
Letheringsett : See Surviving instruments
Loddon : 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) : 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 : Flight & Robson barrel organ transferred from Starston 1878. Rebuilt c.1880. Sold.
Ref: NPOR, N12902
*North Elmham : Mark Noble barrel & finger organ installed 1859. Barrel mechanism removed 1890.
Ref: NRO, PD 209/157 Churchwardens’ accounts; Boston (1959) p.116
North Lopham : See Surviving instruments
Norton Subcourse : 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 : 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 : Barrel organ. Sold 1878.
Ref: Diss Express (3 May 1878) p.4
Saham Toney : Barrel organ. Replaced by Gray & Davison barrel organ 1841.
Ref: NRO, PD566/57 Churchwardens’ accounts; BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 3 (1841) p.158
Sisland : Barrel organ.
Ref: Gordon Paget, Letter, Sunday Times (23 Apr. 1950); L & B, p.87
Snettisham : Barrel organ.
Ref: Peter Murray, The Parish Church of St Mary’s Snettisham Norfolk (2013)
*Stanfield : Barrel organ.
*Stanhoe : J.C. Bishop barrel & finger organ installed 1845.
*Starston : Flight & Robson barrel organ installed 1838. Transferred to Needham 1878.
Ref: NRO, PD119/97 Churchwardens’ a/c (1838-82)
*Swafield : Flight & Robson barrel organ. Converted to finger organ 1880.
Thetford : 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 : B. Flight & Son barrel organ transferred from Heacham 1847. Transferred to Mission Church in South Africa.
Ref: NRO, PD576/81 Churchwardens’ accounts
Thorpe Abbotts : T.C. Bates barrel organ installed 1835. Converted to finger organ 1878.
Ref: NPOR, N12901
*Titchwell : Barrel organ.
Tittleshall : See Surviving instruments
Walpole St Peter : Barrel organ.
Ref: Country Life (17 Dec. 1921) p. 834
West Bradenham : See Surviving instruments
*West Somerton : Samuel Street barrel organ installed 1845.
Ref: Norfolk News (21 June 1845), p.3; Gordon Paget, Letter, Sunday Times (23 Apr. 1950)
Wetheringsett : Barrel organ.
Ref: Diss Express (28 May 1954) p.7
Wiggenhall St German : Gray & Davison barrel organ installed 1849.
Ref: BOA, Gray & Davison Ledger 5 (1849) p.165; Lynn Advertiser (27 May 1921) p.3
Witton : See Surviving instruments
Woodrising : 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 : 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 : 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 : T.C. Bates & Son barrel organ. Converted to finger organ
c.1870.
Ref: NRO, PD187/39 Churchwardens’ accounts
Beeston St Lawrence : Barrel organ installed 1826.
Ref: NPOR, N06144
Blofield : Bishop & Sons barrel organ installed 1848. Replaced by Bates
barrel organ; transferred to Norton Subcourse 1877.
Ref: Elvin (1984) p.102
*Boughton : Barrel & finger organ.
Ref: Norfolk Chronicle (4 Oct. 1873), p.6
Photo: M. Kilbey