Longford
Present organ, B. 1893 Bishop & Son, London.
2 manual, 12 speaking stops, 3 couplers, mechanical action.
Sited in an attractive and expansive church yard in the centre of this historic town, Christ Church was constructed between 1839 and 1844 to the design of Robert de Little and consists of a broad buttressed nave with cast iron columns (added in 1878) [1]. de Little (1808-76) came to the colony in 1830 and established himself in Launceston as a builder and architect [2]. The magnificent five-light east window, with perpendicular Gothic tracery, depicting Christ and the Four Evangelists, was made by William Wailes, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1842 and was probably the earliest figural window in the country [3]. The carved altar in arts and crafts idiom was designed by Alexander North. The sandstone exterior is dominated by an imposing west-end tower which was completed as recently as 1960 through the raising of the stonework by 15 feet [4]. The grounds are entered through a Gothic lynch-gate.
Bishop & Son, London, built the current organ in 1893 at a cost of £346, the firm's job number 1848. It replaced an earlier organ built by James Eagles, London, which no longer survives. This was one of the final instruments exported to Australia by this illustrious firm, at that time directed by Edward Hadlow Suggate. The instrument remains largely unaltered, a swell Mixture, originally prepared for, having been installed in 1970 by David Hudd, on behalf of J.W. Walker & Sons. It is an admirable example of the firm's work of the period, with an attractive case containing stencilled pipes, internal pipework of spotted metal, and delightful voicing [5].
At the rear of the church is an early and extremely rare seraphine made by Gunther & Horwood, Camden Town, London dated at between 1823 and 1829 [6].
GREAT ORGAN Open Diapason 8 Clarabella 8 Dulciana 8 Principal 4 Harmonic Piccolo 2 SWELL ORGAN Violin Diapason 8 Lieblich Gedact 8 Vox Angelica 8 Geigen Principal 4 Mixture 12.15 II Oboe 8 PEDAL ORGAN Bourdon 16
3 couplers
4 composition pedals
balanced mechanical swell pedal
mechanical action
compass: 58/30 [6][1] Dorothea I. Henslowe, Our Heritage of Anglican Churches in Tasmania (Moonah, Tasmania: Mercury Walch, c. 1979), p.43-44.
[2] Priceless heritage: Historic Buildings of Tasmania (Hobart: Platypus Publications, 1964), p.130.
[3] Beverley Sherry, Australia's Historic Stained Glass (Sydney: Murray Child, 1991), pp.14, 28.
[4] A Short History of Christ Church, Longford (Longford: Vestry of Christ Church, 1989), p.4.
[5] Inspected, photographed and details recorded 1970 John Maidment; job number from the British Organ Archive.
[6] Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume, Harmonium: the History of the Reed Organ and its Makers (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1986), pp.19, 144.
