Wells-Kennedy Partnership - Organs Rebuilt and Restored
Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, Cultra, Co. Down - 1994
Great Compass: GG, AA, AA#, BB, CC - f2 58 notes
Swell Compass: Ten. G - f2 35 notes
Pedal Compass: GG - Ten. C 17 notes
Great
| 1. | Open Diapason | 8 | 1-23 open wood pipes; metal from ten. G |
| 2. | Stopped Diapason Bass | 8 | wood |
| 3. | Stopped Diapason Treble | 8 | wood |
| 4. | Principal | 4 | metal |
| 5. | Flute | 4 | wood, stopped |
| 6. | Twelfth | 2 2/3 | metal |
| 7. | Fifteenth | 2 | metal |
Swell (enclosed)
| 8. | Open Diapason | 8 | metal |
| 9. | Stopped Diapason | 8 | wood & metal |
| 10. | Principal | 4 | metal |
| 11. | Hautboy | 8 | spotted metal |
Pedal Pulldowns GG - Ten. C 17 notes
Couplers
Great to Pedal
Swell to Great
Case dimensions
Height: 14' 7" 4.44 m
Width: 8' 0" 2.44 m
Depth: 3' 7" 1.09 m
Total pipes: 488
Builder: ? Dublin, c1820
Rebuilt: Lawless, Dublin, 1846
Overhauled: Telford & Telford, Dublin, 1888
Restored: Wells-Kennedy Partnership Ltd, Lisburn, 1994
A very challenging project transpired in 1991 with the transference and rebuilding of Drumcree Church, Portadown in the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum situated at Cultra, just outside Belfast.
The original organ in Drumcree Church was built by Messrs Telford and Telford and consisted of one manual and pedals. During the period when the church was not in use the organ was vandalised and not worth saving.
The Museum authorities were keen to obtain an organ of early 19th Century vintage and they approached the Wells-Kennedy Partnership with a view to obtaining such an instrument. It was therefore fortunate that we were starting such an instrument for Lord Dunleath of Ballywalter Park, who donated the organ to the Museum.
The organ had been removed in 1957 from Dromore Parish Church in County Tyrone by the Rector and Churchwardens when the church was deemed unsafe for worship. The organ was stored at the Rectory for some years pending the building of a new church, which subsequently had an electronic.
Lord Dunleath obtained the organ and stored it at Ballywalter Park with the intention of rebuilding it in the house. After languishing in a stable for 30 years we took it into store with the hope of finding a home for it.
The early history of the organ is unknown as is the builder but it was believed to be a single manual of seven stops with pedal pulldowns believed to have been made in Dublin around 1820 by the style of case.
This was originally primed with red oxide, overpainted and varnished, giving a mahogany effect, but various attempts at stripping and sanding meant we had to go back to basics. Missing parts were made to match existing remnants and damaged panels made good. It has been our policy to conserve rather than carry out a full scale restoration. The wooden dummy front pipes were restored and re-guilded and look well with the deep mahogany graining of the case. The back panels of the organ have been left in their original finish complete with initials carved by the organ blowers. Other relative information which is part of the history of the instrument has also been preserved. For instance when the bellows were being re-leathered we found details of a previous re-leathering by Joseph Lawless, 31 Queen Street, Dublin in 1846, which was the time of the famine in Ireland.
The following details were also found:-
1. Re-actioned, new keys and wires by Telford & Telford Dublin 1888
2. A J Marshall - organist 1896
3. Tuned by Mr Hawthorne 1898
The rebuilding and restoration required a great deal of detective work as we did not dismantle the organ in 1957 and the instrument had been moved twice with the loss of pipes, action, Swell Box and Swell Building Frame. The keyboards and soundboards had suffered by being stored in damp stables and were almost beyond redemption.
We managed to restore the original soundboards, but the keyboards had to have new keys made in the same style. Replicas of the missing drawstop knobs were made with matching engraving by Thomas Harrison. Unfortunately the Swell Stopped Diapason, Great Twelfth and Fifteenth had been pirated so replacement pipework had to be found of roughly the same vintage.
At some point in time a Dulciana had been added on a clamp on the Great organ, which we did not restore so the Dulciana was revoiced as a Twelfth. A redundant Fifteenth by Flight replaced the missing Fifteenth. The missing Swell Stopped Diapason was replaced by a similar stop by Conacher.
The Church of St John the Baptist was an early Barn Type Church which were common at the turn of the Century but over the years they have been pulled down to make way for larger edifices and larger congregations. It is therefore appropriate that the church should have an organ of the same period sitting on the gallery as the previous instrument that was destroyed.
Unfortunately the centre flat had to be truncated due to the low pitch of the roof and a roof truss goes through the organ above the Great pipework. These were compromises which were worth making in the preservation of an ancient organ that is part of our Irish heritage of native organ builders.
Sadly Lord Dunleath died before the project was completed but he would have been pleased to know that the organ is used for various musical events including a concert where Catherine Ennis played the organ in conjunction with Irish Pipes !