One of the organs I play, at All Saints, Saxton (North Yorkshire) was built by Forster and Andrews and suitably listed in their opus list. There are no great mysteries surrounding its history - it was clearly built for the church in which it continues to reside - yet it is very different from any other F&A organ I have ever encountered. It's quite an early work of the firm - 1859 - and has a few period quirks such as a tenor C Swell and a tediously irregular pedalboard - 25 pedals but the pedal stop (a Bourdon) only goes an octave and one from the bottom. The remaining pedals still work with the Great-Pedal coupler. Also, this organ does not have the classic F&A rounded accidentals. The keyboards are very old and worn, with some amazingly deep grooves in places, and look as if they've been on the organ since conception. An electric blower has been fitted by Wood Wordsworth at some point. Where does one go to find details of exactly when and by whom all this happened? The Borthwick Institute?
Of course, this is an organ for largely Early English repertoire and it could be delightful, but its position in the building (under the tower) means that it's like a rose in a bed of weeds. The acoustic is dead - the organ sounds like it's in a small room. If it were moved to somewhere else in the building, such as its former location in the south chapel, I'm sure it would be a pleasing instrument of great historic interest.
Does anyone know of any other F&A organs like this? I'd be very interested to hear anything anyone might be able to suggest about this one, or similar ones. The organ in the next village to this, at Scarthingwell, generated much interest when I posted about it a few years ago. They share quite a few period traits but Scarthingwell sounds wonderful and Saxton sadly doesn't sound brilliant in its current location.
Here is the NPOR entry, which I complied a while ago...
Best wishes,
Matthew