Work starts on project to turn former Birkenhead church organ into the largest English pipe organ in continental Europe

Feb 3 2010 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

Work starts on project to turn former Birkenhead church organ into the largest English pipe organ in continental Europe

WORK has started on the £700,000 conversion of a former Wirral church organ into the largest English pipe organ in continental Europe.

Prior to its closure in 1991, St Mark’s Church in Devonshire Road, Birkenhead housed the magnificent Henry “Father” Willis organ.

The three manual, 55-stop piece was sold to a collector before the building was demolished. It was later purchased for Hooglandse Kerk/Stichting Cathedral in Leiden, which dates from the 15th Century.

In 2006 a plan was announced to expand the organ into the greatest example of its kind in the Netherlands and mainland Europe.

The project has now been taken on by Liverpool-based organ builder Henry Willis & Sons – whose founder built the organ in 1892.

Frank Resseler, chairman of the Stichting Cathedral Organ Leiden (SCOL) foundation, said: “Among other reasons, the choice for Henry Willis & Sons was determined by the fact that this company’s way of thinking fitted in very closely with SCOL’s precondition that the “Father” Willis it had acquired should to the greatest possible extent be preserved in its present form.

“Currently, the organ builders are busily occupied in developing the design of the new organ.

“In doing so, they will keep intact as much as possible of the 1892 instrument that will form its basis.

“They can safely be entrusted with this task, as they literally have a piece of their company’s history in their hands.”