The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey

Bath Abbey

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican parish church and a former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England...

, is an Anglican parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 and a former Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 in Bath, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, England.

It has had several organs since the first was installed in 1634 and multiple organists and assistant organists since the 16th century.

Organs

The first mention of an organ in the Abbey dates to 1634, but nothing is known of this instrument. The first properly recorded organ in Bath Abbey was built by Abraham Jordan in 1708. It was modified in 1718 and 1739 by Jordan's son. The specification recorded in 1800 was one of twenty stops spread over three manuals. The abbey's next organ was built in 1836 by John Smith of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, to a specification of thirty stops over three manuals and pedals. This instrument was rebuilt on a new gallery in the North Transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

 by William Hill & Son of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1868, to a specification of forty stops spread over four manuals and pedals, although the Solo department, which would have brought the total to well over forty, was not completed.

A new organ was supplied to the abbey in 1895 by Norman and Beard of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

. It had 52 stops spread over four manuals and pedals. It was again rebuilt in 1930, and then by Hill, Norman and Beard in 1948, which brought the number of stops to 58. In 1972 this was increased to a total of 65 speaking stops. The organ was totally reconstructed in 1997 by Klais Orgelbau of Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

, retaining the existing instrument as far as was possible and restoring it largely to its 1895 condition, although the Positive division was kept. The instrument as it now stands has 63 speaking stops over four manuals and pedals.

Continuo organ

A four-stop continuo organ was built for the abbey in 1999 by Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

-based organ builder

Organ builder

-Australia:* William Anderson * Australian Pipe Organs Pty Ltd* Robert Cecil Clifton * William Davidson* J.E. Dodd & Sons Gunstar Organ Works* Fincham & Hobday* Geo. Fincham & Son* Alfred Fuller * Peter D.G. Jewkes Pty Ltd...

 Kenneth Tickell. The instrument, contained in a case of dark oak, is portable, and can be tuned to three pitches

Pitch (music)

Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...

: A=440 Hz (modern concert pitch), A=415 Hz and A=486 Hz. A lever pedal can reduce the stops sounding to only the 8' stop and, when released, returns the organ to the registration in use before it was depressed. A page about similar instruments on the builder's website can be found here.

Organists

• William Cupper ???? - 1539
• Peter 1616
• John Dodwell ???? - 1701
• George Griffeth ca 1703
• Abraham Jordan 1709 - 1710
• Thomas Dean 1710 - 1711

• Josiah Priest 1711 - 1726
• Thomas Chilcot 1726 - 1766
• Joseph Tylee 1767 - 1794
• Thomas Field 1795 - 1831
• Charles Milsom 1832 - 1839
• James Kendrick Pyne 1839 - 1892

• Albert Edward New 1890 - 1933
• Ernest Walter Maynard 1933 - 1967
• John Dudley Holroyd 1967 - 1985
• Peter King 1986 -

Assistant organists

• Raymond Jones 1935 - 1975 (Teacher and Organist of a Church destroyed in 1942 air raid)
• Marcus Sealy 1974 - 2005 (now Sub Organist)
• Mark Swinton 2005 - 2008
• Gary Desmond 2008 - 2010 (post abolished upon creation of new post for Assistant Director of Music and Director of Choral Outreach Programme)