The Church of All Saints, Tuckingmill, or Roskear Church as it is known to locals, certainly of my generation, was built in the 1840s and was consecrated in 1845 by the Bishop of Exeter, the Diocese of Truro not having been established at this date. This new parish of Tuckingmill was created to the East of Camborne to cater for the spiritual needs of the expanded population of the town in the wake of the mining boom.

In 1876 the organ building firm of Hele & Co installed a small pipe organ in the church, and it is probably safe to assume that, for the first 30 years, musical accompaniment was provided by an harmonium. The Hele Organ, as originally built, was a 1 manual and pedal organ of 8 stops, but with a building frame designed to accommodate a second division, and it dates from six years after the firm relocated from Truro to Plymouth. Its sound is very typical of Hele from this period. The principal chorus is bold and robust, and the flutes speak clearly with a pure tonal quality. A Gamba provides a pungent, solo string rank, sharing its bottom octave with the 8’ flute. Apart from one tonal change in the 1970s, when the Dulciana (a stop with a mild, stringy quality) was replaced by a Twelfth (a rank where each note sounds 12 higher than the key that is pressed) Hele’s pipework survives on the Great and Pedal departments of the organ as it is today.

The second manual department, the Swell, is enclosed in a box with a shuttered-front that can be opened and closed to give expression. It was completed by Heard of Truro in two stages as funds were raised, firstly in 1895/96 when 5 stops were provided, and secondly in 1913 when the remaining 2 stops were added, together with an 8’ Pedal rank. The Swell pipework provides plenty of character and colour to complement the Great, and a mildly strident Cornopean (trumpet-like character) adds fire to the full chorus. Despite the organ being the work of two builders, the whole ensemble blends well to provide a versatile and well-constructed little instrument. Changes to the completed scheme of 1913 have been minimal and far from intrusive, namely the conversion of the original ratchet expression pedal to a balanced pedal by Hele in the late 1950s when the Pedal pneumatic action was overhauled. Stop and key actions are otherwise original.

This is an instrument that I played regularly in the mid-1970s, prior to going to university, when I was organist at the church. The organ is still in regular use and valued by the church community, and is the second organ in Camborne to have been recognised as being of historical and musical significance by the British Institute of Organ Studies, who awarded it a Grade II historic listing in 2020. It is also one of only a small number of pipe organs remaining in the town, much of its organ heritage having been lost with the closure of so many of the once thriving Methodist Chapels, and has additional importance because of its association with the history of two erstwhile, Cornish organ building firms. Heard of Truro flourished for only a short time, but produced work of character and quality, and Hele, although the name still exists in the trade, has long since ceased to be the major West Country organ builder that it once was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I am grateful to Mr Lance Foy, organ builder, who maintains the organ at All Saints, for providing me with some of the technical details for this article.)

Jeffrey Williams at the organ

 

Jeffrey Williams

Historic Organs Co-Ordinator for the British Institute of Organ Studies

Organs Advisor to the Diocese of Truro

Organist, St Ia’s Church, St Ives