The History of the Willis Organ
in St. Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow

The organ is a 2 manual pipe organ, with pedals. It was originally installed in the gallery of the chapel of Queen Ethelburga’s College, near Harrogate and used from its installation in 1912 until the demolition of the school a few years ago. It was built by the organ-building firm, Henry Willis during the brief directorship of Henry Willis II, the son of the great ‘Father’ Willis.

The original stop list seems to have been:

There were six foot operated combination pedals.

The layout of the organ is very compact and the action is a mixture of tracker action, with long track rods to the Swell, and Barker/modified by Willis type pneumatic action. The reasons for the particular arrangements are far from clear. They could have been experimental, but more likely they were to circumvent patents held by Vincent Willis and others. There are concussions (small wedge-shaped bellows) on both the Swell and Great wind trunking.

It was overhauled and cleaned by Harrison and Harrison in 1958, with minor work done in 1973, and 1974. The 1958 work included replacing the 4 ft. (assumed) harmonic flute with a stopped flute on the Great (as ‘Harmonic Flute’ is what is still on the draw stop), replacing the trumpet on the Great and replacing with a 3 rank mixture on the Swell what was probably a 15th. Re-leathering was done on the motors which operate the coupler slides, on the primary motors of the key actions, and parts of the drawstop actions. Wooden distance pieces used for regulating the valve strokes of the key action were replaced. A balance swell pedal was installed. Corrosion had caused damage to all the reeds and these were to be thoroughly cleaned and fitted with new tuning springs. Unspecified ‘possible rewinding of the action’ was referred to and some work on this seems to have been done. This is referred to later in some detail.

The stop list at this stage (1958) seems to have been:

Couplers : As before

In 1973, Harrison & Harrison carried out work described as ‘remaking Swell and Great key actions, overhauling Pedal Bourdon transmission, covering and uncovering the organ.’

In 1974 a ‘wind pressure reduction valve was made and fitted’.

At some stage, a drawstop marked ‘Tremulant’ was fitted on the Swell drawstop side, but no tremulant seems to have been fitted. The concussion on the Swell would have increased the complexity of fitting one.

The organ was dismantled by Peter Woods of Leeds at a critical stage just before the school and chapel were demolished. St. Michael’s was looking for another organ and Matthew Copley, an organ builder and friend of Peter Woods, thought that it would suit the church. It was bought by him in 2000..

The organ has being completely renovated at the workshop of Matthew Copley, an organ builder in Surrey. The opportunity has been taken to add five stops marked * on the stop list. The renovation and additions have been carried out using traditional methods and materials as far as possible, but where the lead pneumatic tubing has had to be replaced, this has been done in modern materials.

Current Stop List:

Six combination or composition pedals as originally fitted

The wind pressure has been raised slightly from 3 ½ ins (88 mm) to 3 ¾ ins. (94 mm). The pressure for the pedal pipes is 4 1/4 ins (108 mm).

Within the organ, as at 2001, there was evidence that the winding had been altered and several supply points were either blanked off, or opened, found not to be effective and blanked off again. The current organ builders are of the opinion that there were probably problems with the winding right from the beginning. The modifications carried out by Harrison and Harrison, if any, did not solve the problem, as they have had to be overcome during the latest restoration. This has been done by opening up the extra supply points to the touch box Barker/Willis machines on Swell and Great.

The work done in the current restoration includes re-leathering the main bellows, concussion bellows, small bellows for the high pressure and all motors except for a few coupler motors. Trunking has been re-sealed. Keys and foot pedals have been re-bushed and repaired as necessary. All the action has been tightened and re-bushed where necessary; all leather buttons replaced; all pallets lined with new leather. All pipes have been regulated on site to suit the acoustics of the church. Matthew Copley was a re-voicing apprentice under Henry Willis III, so he has had a great deal of experience of this type of instrument and of its qualities. The alterations have required the swell box to be remade and enlarged as have the draw stop machines to swell and great. Some of the larger zinc ducting has been retained, but a great deal of the smaller lead tubing has been replaced by plastic.

The additional 15th on the Swell has been bracketted on to the front of the windchest, requiring the enlargement of the swell box, the additional mixture on the Great has been bracketted on to the back of the windchest, both requiring changes to the drawstop motors. The Octave Flute and the Trombone pedal stops have been installed at the back of, and separated from the organ on a frame which houses the blower, humidifier and the bellows below the pedal windchest. The action for these two stops is pneumatic. The mechanism for the new 32 ft. Accoustic Bass is housed below the main bellows at the back of the organ.

The original location of the organ was against a west wall. It is now free-standing and matching panelling has been made and fixed to the back of the organ by the church joiner. The framework supporting the extra pedal pipes has also been enclosed.

The work also involved the strengthening of a heating duct, laying concrete below the slabbing which supports the main posts, providing an electrical supply to the location of the organ and blower, laying in a water supply and drainage to the humidifier and forming a ramp into the north chancel area over the main ducting and pneumatic tubing to the pedal pipes. This work was not included in the organ contract, but was carried out by local tradesmen.

A video record was made of the various stages of the installation of the organ and a photographic record has been kept.