St. Mary, Portsea

J.W. Walker & Sons, 1889/1892 · Portsea, Portsmouth, England

About

St Mary's stands on the oldest church site on Portsea Island, where a church is recorded as early as 1164. The present building — the third on the site — is one of the largest Anglican parish churches in England. Designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and built between 1887 and 1889, its foundation stone was laid by Victoria, Princess Royal. Much of the cost was met by William Henry Smith, better known today for the family firm that became the retailer WHSmith. The church is a Grade II* listed building and has been described as the finest Victorian building in Hampshire.

The organ at St. Mary's was built by J.W. Walker & Sons and installed in two stages, in 1889 and 1892. It had undergone several modifications over the years, but has been restored largely to its 1889/1892 state by Nicholson & Co. which was completed in 2022. Cecil Clutton, an organ consultant, writing in 'The Organ' in 1965, described the organ as being "…tonally…the final achievement of 19th century British organ building…with only thirty-eight speaking stops (the organ) achieves as much as almost any cathedral organ and more than most…The classical approach to organ building survived in England for longer than it did under Cavaillé Coll's influence in France, and the Portsea organ represents its final fusion on equal terms with the romantic school, before the latter took charge and decadence set it. There are, indeed, all the seeds of decadence at Portsea, but the short period preceding decadence is usually a very exciting one…and this organ at Portsea is without question exciting."

Technical Information

Sample and bit rate: 48kHz, 24 Bit
7 Channels (1× Mono Perspective — Direct. 3× Stereo Perspectives — Close, Main, Rear)
All Tremulant samples recorded
Software required: Hauptwerk v4.2+
Manual Compass C–a³
Pedal Compass C–f¹

Memory Requirements (Lossless)