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Nelson/Lewis Organ
During Canon Wilkinson's time as Cathedral Administrator (1937
to 1964), the organ was moved from the gallery to the front of the church.
For the move of the organ, a hole was cut in the wall of the church above
the door to the cloister and it was said at the time that the hole was
meant to be bigger, but the architect became concerned that a larger
opening would weaken the structure. Behind the wall in which the hole
was cut was the former Chapter Room, unused at the time, and it was into
this room that the organ was relocated.
Nelson and Co of Durham were given the job of installing it and it soon
became clear that they were trying to put a quart into a pint pot. The
room was not high enough to accommodate the 16ft long pipes and these
had to be cut and made into hockey-shaped pipes. The remainder of the
pipes were crammed into this small space. The small cat-walk used for
maintenance purposes was only 12 inches wide.
The Nelson/Lewis organ was installed in a room above the cloister.
Pipes from the original Lewis organ were used and adapted. The case above
was made from the Lewis organ case and was erected above the cloister
door.
The console was installed on the Sanctuary in the space under the lancet
arch and it intruded because it was so big. The organist sat with his
back to the altar. There was an air supply to the console and between
the console and the pipes, there was a great mass of red plastic tubes
for the pneumatic action which was installed and these were placed in
a duct cut into the church floor in front of the Lady Chapel. Although
electric actions were available at that time, it was decided that a pneumatic
action would be better. This did not prove to be the case because, in
view of the distance involved, there was a slight time delay between
pressing a key on the console and the relevant pipe producing a sound.
Moreover. with the console being positioned on the Sanctuary, ladies
were no longer able to play the organ.
All of these problems, however, paled into insignificance compared with
the loss of volume due to the smallness of the aperture in the wall and
the way that the pipes had been crammed into such a small space. The
smaller pipes became practically inaudible and so a microphone was installed
in the chamber above them and an amplifier behind the pipes was connected
to a bank of loudspeakers. Unfortunately this had the effect of allowing
the smaller pipes to produce a louder sound than they would have otherwise
been capable of.
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