The Cathedral Organ
The earliest record of an organ in Saint Patrick's is in 1471 when Archbishop Tregury bequeathed 'a pair of organs' for use in the Lady Chapel. During the next two centuries there are various records of payments to organists.
Of the many organs in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the most visually impressive must have been that of Renatus Harris in 1697, built on a screen dividing the nave from the choir, an earlier plan in 1678 having come to nothing. It was completed by 11 March 1697 and extra stops were added two months later. At some stage in the eighteenth century a third manual was added and in 1751 a new organ was installed in the Lady Chapel. The main organ was repaired in 1815 by Messrs Gray of London. Pedal diapasons were added by Bucher and Fleetwood who took charge of the organ until 1831 when it was taken over by Telford and Telford of Dublin.
By the 1850s the organ was in a state of disrepair and in 1865 it was rebuilt by Bevington of London, retaining many of the old organ pipes. As part of the Guinness restoration the organ, which had stood on the choir screen, was moved to the north choir aisle. A fourth manual was added in 1881 by Telford, who also undertook repairs when the organ was damaged by a falling buttress in 1882.
In 1902 a new organ was built, incorporating some of the existing pipework, by Henry Willis and Sons in a specially constructed chamber in the triforium above the north choir aisle. This was a major undertaking; flying buttresses similar to those on the south side of the choir were partly removed and the chamber was built on to the north side in keeping with the original architecture. Access was provided by a spiral staircase of marble designed by Sir Thomas Drew. ‘Father’ Willis planned the new organ in consultation with Sir George Martin, organist of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, where there is an earlier ‘Father’ Willis instrument. Willis's son Henry completed the job, distinguishing himself in his treatment of the powerful reed stops. It is the finest romantic organ in Ireland, with 65 speaking stops and over 4000 pipes.
When the instrument was restored in 1963 by J. Walker & Sons, little modification was made to the original design, but a good deal of upperwork was grafted onto the specifications. Much of the original orchestral palette was displaced by mutation and mixture stops which are of use in early and contemporary repertories.
Harrison & Harrison Ltd of Durham carried out major restoration work on the organ in 1995 restoring the organ to its original proportions. In addition to a cleaning and overhaul, the most recent work incorporated a restoration of the flue-work along classic Willis lines. New mixtures have been made which, thanks to painstaking research by Harrison's director Mark Venning, are faithful copies of the best Willis models. The principal chorus was also re-voiced by Peter Hopps. The cathedral now possesses one of the finest early twentieth-century organs in the world that can be heard almost exactly as it was when it was built.
The original console of the organ is preserved in the Cathedral as a memorial to Dr George Hewson, who was organist and Master of the Choristers from 1920 to 1960.
