We assisted St Mary’s Church, Portsea with The Organ Project, established to repair the 1889 J W Walker & Sons pipe organ and its chamber.

The parish has received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the repairs, which aim to restore the pipe organ to its original Victorian tonal character, unpicking its modernisation by organ builders in 1965 and 1981.

The mammoth task of removing the organ began in November 2020.  It was safely delivered to Nicholson & Co Ltd based in Malvern, Worcestershire who over the past 12 months have undertaken the complex process of restoration. 

Reinstatement of the organ has now begun and will continue until around Easter 2022.

Alongside these works, conservation repairs have also been carried out in areas of the organ chamber normally obscured by the instrument, externally and within the choir vestry.  Masonry, joinery and roofing works have been completed by T Coleborn and Son Ltd and the leaded lights were rebuilt and reinstated by Easthope Stained Glass.

Please visit theorganproject.org website for more information about the Project, and Nicholson & Co for a full description of the organ and restoration works. 

To read about some of our other ecclesiastical projects, please click here.

If you would like to discuss a conservation repair or other project, please contact us.

Image courtesy of Matt Dixon, Project Manager, The Organ Project