The Early English Organ Project

The Wetheringsett Organ - one of two in the project to date

© 2003-2007
The Early English Organ Project

This is the first stage of the website.
Future development will include pictures of the 16th-century remains and the process employed in building the organs.

Site by The Art of Music

Rediscovering the Sound of the Sixteenth-Century English Organ

A dairy door in a 17th-century house in Wetheringsett, Suffolk, and a piece of decaying timber found behind old pews and lumber in the churchyard shed at Wingfield, Suffolk, have transformed our knowledge and understanding of the pre-Reformation English organ.

The door and the timber proved to be the remains of two soundboards (or windchests) from English organs made before the Reformation. Using additional evidence from early organs in Southern France and Spain, from surviving music and the archives, it has been possible to build up a reliable scheme for these two organs – and to build them anew.

hear them at Durham Cathedral >
new CD recording available >

  • "…of great importance to Britain's musical heritage"
  • "…one of the most exciting organ projects ever. Unique."
  • "…a major advance in our knowledge of the history of music and its performance in this country…of major importance to scholars and musicians all over the world."

The organs are owned by The Royal College of Organists.