The Rothwell & Harrison Organs

Shortly after the appointment of Dr Henry Walford Davies in 1898 as organist, a minor renovation was undertaken by Frederick Rothwell (1853-1944).  Rothwell was a friend of Walford Davies and was responsible for rebuilding many organs to which HWD was connected. At this time, the action was regulated and some of the stops were revoiced. An adjustable Swell pedal (an invention of Rothwell) was also added.

Rothwell again rebuilt the organ in 1910 and the work was extensive. In addition to a substantial amount of new pipework, the console was rebuilt with his patented stop-key control system. Stop-keys placed above each manual replaced the stop-knobs and the pedal stop-tabs were triplicated above each keyboard also, enabling easy access from any manual. Walford Davies was clearly impressed with this innovation which, in his own words, enabled the player to glide from stop-key to stop-key while still playing, without the slightest break in the musical thought and without the slightest turn of the head or any irrelevant muscular effort.