During the years of 1864 and 1865 three organs were built by three different builders – each of which was destined to come to Fressingfield. In 1864 Bevington, based in Soho, built an organ at a cost of £93 15s 0d including carriage. It was brought by rail from London to Harleston, thence by wagon to Fressingfield where it was erected on the West gallery. It is of interest to note that public subscriptions and donations for the organ came to £96 11s 8d and the balance was added to the collection made at the opening ceremony on 2nd May 1865 at 3 pm. So this was being built at the same time as the Father Willis Organ which later came to Fressingfield.
In Horham there was a Holdich organ, originally built in 1864 for Great Shelford PC, Cambridgeshire, bought in 1867 to mark the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1913 the Vicar of Fressingfield was seeking a larger instrument and bought the Holdich Organ for £100 0s 0d. He paid for it himself.
The West Gallery at Fressingfield was removed and the Bevington on it sold to Bedfield Parish Church, Suffolk, where it still stands and sounds extremely well in this small church. The Holdich Organ was placed in the North Chapel at Fressingfield and remained there until 1939 when it was removed to North Burlingham Church, near Acle, Norfolk. Boggis & Co have just recently restored this organ.
The third organ was built in 1864 and was constructed by the great 'Father' Willis for the Chapel Royal of the Savoy, London. Father Willis started his business in London in 1845 when he was 24. The Company was requested, by Queen Victoria, to produce an organ for the Great Exhibition in 1851 and one for St George’s Hall in Liverpool which was then the largest organ in the world. Orders from the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral followed.
The Royal Savoy Organ was enlarged by Willis in 1874 and left certain stops prepared for only this little known but lovely Chapel, just off The Strand. Willis placed his organ at the west end. Here it flooded the Chapel with its superb tone until 1939.
In that year, Queen Elizabeth, later The Queen Mother, decided more space was needed in the Chapel and so the Organ had to be disposed of and it was replaced by a Hammond electronic organ. This caused almost a scandal in the organ world at the time but happily Fressingfield gained a beautiful organ.
In 1939 the Vicar of Fressingfield, the Rev B Thursford Pitts, was anxiously seeking a better organ. The Rev Gordon Paget heard the Savoy Organ was for disposal and together they journeyed to London. As they did so they heard that another prospective purchaser offer £50 for it. Whereupon Rev Pitts offered £55 and Messrs Boosey & Hawkes, as disposers of the organ, accepted this offer with the proviso that it was to be dismantled and removed by the end of the week. Within a couple of days Messrs William Hill and Son and Norman & Beard Ltd commenced removing the organ and transporting it to St Peter and St Paul’s Church.
To fit it into its new position in the North Chapel at Fressingfield, the chapel floor had to be lowered and the top swell box lowered also. This necessitated the mitring of many of the swell basses.
The organ in 1939 came without its casement. Efforts were made in 2013 to trace the original casement. Contact was made with Rev Prof Peter Galloway at The Chapel Royal but there was no trace. The archivist Kate Roberts, Keeper of the Records of the Duchy of Lancaster, researched it but again there was no reference to its whereabouts.
There are no records of the origin of the Fressingfield casement, only receipts for the wood. It is thought the Etheridge workshops in the village made the casement.
In 1963, Mr Ralph Bootman made additions to attempt to improve the appearance. No facility was made, in the casement, for access to the organ for maintenance, hence apart from tuning and some temporary repairs there is little evidence of work being carried out. Also funds were not available. Boggis & Co (formerly Hill Norman & Beard) have tuned the organ for many years. When the organ arrived there had been a shortage of space of about seventeen inches and which explains why the console remained at the east side, as it had been in the Royal Savoy. The pipes were bent at an angle to achieve this and, as a result, the organ is very hard to play and the tone is impaired.
As far back as 1984, restoration was called for by a Mr Rodney Kent in a memo to Canon T Pownall. He stated that it was suffering from various serious defects, mostly due to wear and tear and its 120 years of age. Certain stops were missing as the Father Willis specification was never completed and this needed to be carried out. It was suggested at this time that the organ be restored and removed to the west end of the Church in order to provide more space, at a cost of £1,600. After consultation it was decided not to move the organ as the cost of repair would have been £6,000.
Much fundraising followed and the money was raised. Unfortunately the tower became in desperate need of repair, becoming unsafe, and the funds were diverted for this emergency. Consequently the organ was not restored and no further attempts were made until 2013.
In 2010, Rodney Briscoe’s report stated the organ was in dire need of cleaning and repair and a quotation was submitted for the necessary work. The Quinquennial Reports repeatedly mentioned the organ requiring attention. In 2011 it was stated it needed to be examined by a specialist so in 2013 it was inspected in detail by:
A further quotation was received from Walkers.
There was a public meeting when the proposals were set out for the village and interested parties to examine. In order to consider any work being done in the church it is necessary to obtain permission from the diocese in the form of a faculty. In 2014 this was in the process of being completed. In September of that year the PCC finally passed the resolution by a unanimous decision to restore the organ. The faculty was presented and granted and so work could go ahead. The PCC decided to ask Boggis & Co to carry out the restoration, their quotation having been the most favourable.
