A lost 18th century Snetzler carving which once decorated the case of a church organ in the north of England was rediscovered by Wood Pipe Organ Builders.
The instrument in Fulneck Moravian Church, Pudsey, West Yorkshire, was built and installed in 1748 by the Swiss-born John Snetzler. It is thought the carving was by his brother, Leonard, a renowned wood-carver and plasterer.
The rococo design was found in small pieces in a cardboard box on top of the swell box by Michael Leadbeater as members of our team were overhauling the instrument.
Shortly before the find, a church member had produced an old photograph which showed the carving on a panel on the centre tower of the organ.
David Wood, managing director, said: “Michael said he’d found a box full of bits at the top of the organ. As soon as I saw it, I realised this was the lost carving shown on the black and white picture. It was a remarkable coincidence.”
He believes the carving may have been inadvertently smashed when the organ was rebuilt by JJ Binns in 1929 and that the culprit hid the evidence.
David said: “The people at Fulneck were thrilled at having their carving back. We restored it to its original position when our work on the organ was completed."
We were delighted that our work on this important organ was recognised with a feature in the Yorkshire Post, the region's national newspaper.
Besides a thorough clean and overhaul, Wood Pipe Organ Builders replaced the dummies in the front of the case with new pipes in tin by Shires Organ Pipes of Leeds. The pitch of the instrument was also be raised to A440.
To help to keep the organ in tune during the winter months, Shires replaced the unreliable tuning corks on three ranks of pipes with new felted cans. While the Snetzler-Binns was out of action, the church used a one-manual, three-stop (8', 4', 2') Grant Degens and Bradbeer chamber organ, right, on loan from our firm.
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