Hear our organ play!

Giving thanks to all who have contributed to the restoration fund so far; with this we have been able to complete the overhaul of the instrument, although fundraising continues for the restoration of the pipework gilding. 

Isle of Wight based organ builder Andrew Cooper has completed the rebuild of our organ, the result is stunning!.

To celebrate the restoration, Simon Earl, Director of Music at Christchurch Priory will be giving a recital on September 27th at 4:00pm with a full mix of music to showcase the organ. 

This is an open event, no tickets, seating on a first come first seated basis. There will be a retiring collection at the end of the recital in aid of the chancel pipes gilding. 

If you wish to donate to our restoration appeal please use the banking details or barcode shown on the poster.

Our Organ

St Michael and All Angels, Hinton Admiral has an outstanding organ. Built in 1874 by the leading British organ builder, Hill & Son, it is an organ eminently capable of performing all its roles in the church with aplomb, and is a first-rate musical instrument.

It is very remarkable the organ has survived without any significant alteration over the years, being in the same state Hill left it. As such, it is an organ of significant historic value and interest and should be carefully maintained as such. 

The organ needed cleaning, overhaul and minor repairs, commensurate with the routine "servicing" organs need every 25-40 years. The organ was last "serviced" in the early 1970s so this work is now overdue. 

The Hill & Son organ at St. Michaels is an entirely characteristic and effectively unaltered example of their work. All the characteristic details of Hill's work survive, including all the pipework, soundboards, key and stop action, console, casework and wind system. The console retains all its period Hill features, including the tinted stop shields Hill employed from the late 1860s through the 1870s, with their characteristic block capital serif font, the straight flat pedalboard to E and trigger swell pedal. The appearance of the organ is very splendid, with richly decorated pipes including gold relief, held up by wrought ironwork, which is very characteristic of the period