Tewkesbury Abbey

Organ Description

The ‘Milton’ organ of Tewkesbury Abbey is an instrument I’ve known since childhood. Hearing the organ fill this vast space all those years ago left a strong impression on me as a chorister, and since then ‘Tewkesbury’ has always ignited images of awe and grandeur.

A few years later, when I was Organ Scholar at York Minster, I had the opportunity to play it again. I remember being so excited by the sound and acoustic that I sent a text to my teacher and mentor, John Scott Whiteley, saying how incredible it was and that he HAD to play it.

Those feelings of excitement were once again reignited when I was invited to record Carleton Etherington and Simon Bell in a production for BEAUTY IN SOUND. This was the first time I’d heard the organ since its rebuild in 2018, and it sounded better than ever, confirming for me that this is one of my favourite organs and buildings in the world.

The organ spans nearly four centuries of English organ building. In 1631 Robert Dallam built the original instrument for Magdalen College, Oxford. It was moved to Hampton Court Palace in 1654, where John Milton is reputed to have played it, before returning to Magdalen in 1660 and being re-erected in 1661. Renatus Harris substantially remodelled the organ in 1690.

In 1736 it was sold to Tewkesbury Abbey and over the years moved from the North to the South side of the Quire. After major nineteenth and twentieth century rebuilds, the instrument was comprehensively reconstructed in 1997 by Kenneth Jones & Associates as a four-manual organ of 68 speaking stops, retaining the historic Dallam case and much early pipework.

In 2018 Nicholson & Co undertook a major cleaning and overhaul, overhauling the mechanical action and console, repairing soundboards, chests, expression boxes, and revoicing some reeds including re-composing the Swell Mixture.

It has been a real honour to record this organ, especially given how sentimental it is to me. I am deeply grateful to Carleton and Simon for putting their trust in me and inviting me to sample this wonderful instrument so that people around the world can experience it.

Support documentation

User Guide

Organ features

• Fully animated organ console;
• Photo-realistic fully-functional left and right stop jams in portrait (landscape coming in (2026);
• Fully sampled (only) Tremulants across the Choir, Swell and Solo (Tremulant on Vox Humana available now with the rest coming in 2026);
• 4 separate perspectives (Close, Front Middle and Rear), totalling 8 channels;
• Adjustable audio levels for each division in each perspective;
• Separate keyboard, mechanical and slider noises;
• 4 presets (Console, Quire, Nave and Best);
• 4 memory banks for personal customisation of settings;
• All noise levels fully adjustable;
• 4 different Ambience settings (day, evening, night and the Tewkesbury bells);
• Adjustable delay of the expression pedals;
• Adjustable tuning (NOT an false 'de-tune' feature. The default tuning is as it was when recorded, and the tuned version has been manually tuned by Richard, note-by-note using the Choir Principal 4' as a basis).

Overview

Released: 5 December 2025
Producer: BIS
Location: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, UK
Organ Builder: Nicholson & Co; Kenneth Jones & Associates; JW Walker; 'Father' Henry Willis; Robert Dallam.
Speaking Stops: 70
Manuals: 4 + pedal
Expression Pedals: Swell, Solo and Apse
Pistons: 8 Pistons on each division

Specification

Solo (enclosed)
Tremulant
Clarion 4
Trumpet 8
Horn 16
Orchestral Oboe 8
Voix Humaine 8
Piccolo 2
Traverse Flute 4
Violoncello 8
Harmonic Flute 8
Apse to Solo
Octave
Sub Octave
Unison Off

Apse (enclosed)
Tuba 8
Tremulant (Not working at the time of sampling)
Corno di Bassetto 8
Harmonia Aetheria III
Flute 4
Fugara 4
Unda Maris 8
Dolce 8
Cor de Nuit 8
Pedal Bourdon 16
Apse Octave
Apse Unison Off
Apse Sub Octave

Swell (enclosed)
Tremulant
Clarion 4
Hautbois 8
Cornopean 8
Double Trumpet 16
Mixture III
Fifteenth 2
Open Flute 4
Principal 4
Voix Celeste 8
Salicional 8
Stopped Diapason 8
Open Diapason 8
Apse to Swell
Solo to Swell
Octave
Sub Octave
Unison Off

Great
Clarion 4
Trumpet 8
Cymbal II
Mixture IV
Sesquialtera III
Fifteenth 2
Twelfth 2 2/3
Wald Flute 4
Principal 4
Claribel Flute 8
Open Diapason 2 8
Open Diapason 1 8
Double Diapason 16
Apse to Great
Solo to Great
Swell to Great
Choir to Great

Choir
Tremulant
Cremona 8
Sharp Mixture IV
Larigot 1 1/3
Tierce 1 3/5
Flute 2
Fifteenth 2
Nazard 2 2/3
Chimney Flute 4
Principal 4
Dulciana 8
Quintadena 8
Stopped Diapason 8
Double Dulciana 16 *
Apse to Choir
Solo to Choir
Swell to Choir

Pedal
Trumpet 8
Trombone 16
Horn 16
Double Horn 32
Mixture IV
Fifteenth 4
Nazard 5 1/3
Flute 8
Principal 8
Quint Flute 10 2/3
Subbass 16
Open Diapason 16
Open Wood 16
Double Open Wood *
Apse to Pedal
Solo to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Choir to Pedal

* added by extension in Hauptwerk

Technical information

Current version: 1.0
Sample rate: 48 kHz
Bit resolution: 24-bit
Channel count: 8 (4 x stereo)
Hauptwerk version: Hauptwerk 7 or higher (with iLok account and license)

Computer requirements

Operating System: Windows or MacOS
Hauptwerk version: v7 or above
RAM with compressed audio and in addition to system RAM and other RAM that Hauptwerk may currently be using:

Each Perspective:

• 16-bit 12gb
• 20-bit 21gb
• 24-bit 24gb

Minimum RAM: 16gb (only one perspective loaded in 16-bit, no noises)
Full load in 16-bit: 42gb
Maximum RAM: 82gb (for a full load on maximum settings)

External links

Tewkesbury – Nicholson & Co. Ltd

Demo information

Upon purchasing the demo, you'll receive a licence code to a fully-functional version of the organ which will expire after 7 days, If you decide to purchase the full version, please get in touch with me with your Order Number and I'll discount the full price by the amount you paid for the demo (amounts will vary from country to country depending on local tax rates).