Clydebank: Our Holy Redeemer
J & A Mirrlees, 1867 — organ surveyed August 2023
Historical overview
The Organ and St Joseph’s RC Church, Glasgow
Unlike many instruments by Mirrlees, this instrument has been preserved true to its original concept. The case paintwork (including the colour of the façade pipework) is not original and has been carried out since 1997 by local artist, James Brown. This provides a striking impression from downstairs in the nave, reflecting similar stencilling elsewhere in the church, even if Brown’s motifs lack finesse when viewed from close quarters.
The instrument was originally built for St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church at 40, North Woodside Road, in the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow. The St Joseph’s building is no longer present at that location and the street itself is much altered, with a number of new buildings occupying much of the site. St Joseph’s opened in 1850[i] and was initially administered by the Jesuit Order (prior to the construction of St Aloysius Church, Garnethill).[ii] No pictorial evidence of the organ from this time appears to have survived, unless something exists in a private collection, but there is the following account from Notes on the History of St Joseph’s Glasgow, prepared for the Golden Jubilee of the church.
“The present organ was put in by Fr Lambert at the cost of £600. The maker is Mirrlees of Glasgow, and the power for blowing is hydraulic. Up to 1873 the organ faced the altar, and at the period of the alterations it was place sideways to avoid exclusion of light. “[iii]
This ‘turning’ of the organ was carried out to remedy problems with light entering the church. This was, perhaps, unfortunate as the view of the casework was obscured for the next hundred years or so, not to mention any impact on balance and tonal egress.
Mirrlees’ organ wasn’t the first at St Joseph’s and music appears to have played an important and respected role in the life of the parish. An article from the Glasgow Free Press of 1853 makes reference to “a grand organ” and “as efficient a choir as the Catholic talent of Glasgow can supply…the lovers of sacred music, we are sure, will be amply repaid by a visit to St Joseph’s…”.[iv] No mention is made of the particulars of that instrument, nor a builder identified, and it is curious that only some fourteen years later the “grand organ” was replaced by the instrument under review.
Press articles from 1867 detail the ceremonies which took place to mark the installation of the Mirrlees instrument. The Glasgow Free Press states that the “opening of the new organ in St. Joseph’s took place under most distinguished auspices”.[v] For the occasion, the body of the church had been richly adorned with colourful banners to create a “splendid effect to the whole church”.[vi] The article continues:
“The organ, a really noble instrument, built by Mr Mirrlees of this city, gave forth its splendid peals for fully an hour before the ceremonies commenced…for fullness of tone and power of expression…this organ will bear favourable comparison with any other in the city”.[vii] The article also makes particular note of the quality of the Violon Diapason on the swell (incorrectly styled “small”).
It is apparent that a strong musical tradition continued (at least for a while) with members of the parish choir being joined by singers from the Italian Opera Company, offering their talents to a full congregation.[viii] Of particular note is an article in the Daily Mail which praises the skill of the newly appointed organist, “Mr George Hopkinson”.[ix] This may explain the origins of a local anecdote that renowned poet Gerard Manley Hopkins had been organist at this church. Manley Hopkins was in the Jesuit order and did indeed spend two months at St Joseph’s from the 10th of August 1881.[x] Despite evidence that Manley Hopkins both composed and played the piano at a very rudimentary level, nothing suggests he made any serious attempts at the organ. Perhaps the closest we get is that Manley Hopkins suggests (in a letter to Robert Bridges) that he composed an Ode to Evening for choir and organ – though no manuscript survives.[xi] In other writings, Hopkins even describes himself as being “musically deficient”.[xii] With this in mind, it may be suggested that the mists of time have merged G Hopkinson and G (Manley) Hopkins into one. However, it cannot be denied that Gerard Manley Hopkins will have experienced this instrument, if not actually as the performer himself.
By 1984, despite relative fame, this instrument became redundant on the closure of St Joseph’s Church. Thanks to the efforts of a local priest, Father David Trainer of nearby St Columba’s Roman Catholic church (Hopehill Road, Glasgow), the organ was dismantled by James Mackenzie. This was carried out under supervision of the Scottish Historic Organs Trust and the organ was stored in St Columba’s, falling silent after nearly 120 years. It should be noted that the Mirrlees organ was only stored in St Columba’s, it was never erected, as the balcony was too small and the cost too high for the parish.[xiii]
Our Holy Redeemer, Clydebank
Opened in 1903, Our Holy Redeemer is – like many other churches within the Archdiocese of Glasgow – a building by Pugin & Pugin (designed by Peter Paul Pugin), built in their typical gothick style. Interestingly, Our Holy Redeemer is 33 years younger than the Mirrlees organ. The church has previously housed four other instruments.
A centenary celebration brochure lists the first instrument as “built by the German firm of Volker…likely that it was put in just before the Great War”.[xiv] Of course, this erroneous statement is a reference to Walcker of Ludwigsburg, Germany. That instrument had one manual and was removed and scrapped in 1954, perhaps as it was inadequate for supporting the parish’s increasing musical programme (multiple choirs and ‘bands’).[xv] In 1955, the Glasgow firm of Andrew Watt & Son erected a new instrument as part of the church’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. To avoid blocking light, the instrument was housed in twin organ cases which were restricted to either side of the window. The ‘space-saving’ design led to rapid failure and subsequent removal in 1958[xvi] & [xvii]. The third instrument, a one manual positive organ of 1900, was installed in 1984 and situated at the front of the church. It was removed in 1993 after suffering from significant water damage. From this time onwards, the church had no organ until the installation of the Mirrlees instrument.
In 1997, the organ was gifted to Our Holy Redeemer but required some £12,000 worth of restoration. It is a testament to the commitment of the parish to undertake such a project, keeping the instrument on home soil – it had reputedly attracted much attention from foreign instrument dealers during its time in storage.[xviii] It would easy to assume that this instrument was designed for its present location. Its simple and elegant case fits well within the gothic interior and the building’s generous acoustic allows the organ to speak well, directly into the large nave from its central position on the balcony at the West end of the church.
The Mirrlees firm (1811-1948)
This Glasgow-based firm was founded in 1811 by Robert Mirrlees under his own name. Little is known about any formal training for Robert. It is suggested that he worked initially as a Wright and Cabinet Maker, a profession which would serve him well for diversifying into working with pipe organs. Much like Robert’s formative years, there is scant surviving documentation of projects carried out in the early years of the firm, though it is likely that the maintenance of domestic chamber organs featured.
Mirrlees’ earliest known work is the installation of a Snetzler organ of 1747 from St. Mary’s Episcopal Chapel in Edinburgh into Glasgow Unitarian Church, in around 1812/13. This organ, subsequently enlarged, still survives – somewhat neglected – in the Concert Hall of Glasgow University, where it was installed in 1985.
Upon the death of Robert Mirrlees in 1848, the running of the firm being taken up by his sons John and Alex. After John’s death in 1857, the firm stayed solely in the hands of Alex; his sons Alex and Adam subsequently joining the business. On the death of Alex (senior) in 1900, his sons continued the business, with Adam outliving his brother by 19 years and dying in February 1948. During that year the business was acquired by the English firm of Hill, Norman & Beard, who moved into and operated from the Mirrlees premises in Glasgow’s Cowcaddens district (Cambridge Lane). Unfortunately, no known company records from Mirrlees are known to exist.
Up until the end of the 1850’s, much of the firm’s trade (of which is known about) in new instruments came via the manufacture of single-manual chamber organs (such as that which survives in Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk). However, one large two-manual instrument, dating from around 1854, was constructed and, at various stages, served in a house in Glasgow’s Calton Place and also in nearby St. Andrew’s Parish Church from 1866-74. This instrument continues to survive in an evolved form at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Greenock since 1879. Mirrlees were engaged in the maintenance of a number of instruments across the city, including the 1853 Glasgow City Hall Organ, built by Gray & Davison in London. This instrument was under the firm’s maintenance for almost fifty years – a challenging responsibility as aspects of the original design of this instrument rendered it prone to being persistently unreliable.
Perhaps due to a combination of modest facilities and resources, and being constantly involved in routine maintenance work and repairs, opportunities for the Mirrlees firm in the Established Church (Church of Scotland) were not immediately forthcoming. The situation further exacerbated by having to compete with those heavily staffed and highly mechanised organ building establishments in the south (and occasionally in Europe), who were able to manufacture and deliver a new instrument to their clients – often within twelve weeks. It remains unclear, the extent to which Alexander Mirrlees was availed of the necessary facilities for the manufacture of organ pipes, however excellent pipework would have been available through the many trade suppliers operating in the later decades of the nineteenth century.
Starting with the St. Joseph’s organ in 1867, there followed a further three significant commissions for the Roman Catholic Church, all in Glasgow. This culminated in the firm’s magnum opus at St. Andrew’s Cathedral (at that time St. Andrew’s RC Church) in 1871. This latter instrument, comprising three manuals and over forty ranks, included the first wooden 32ft Open Diapason stop in any Scottish organ – the pipes of which remain in situ on the west gallery to this day, though the remainder of the organ has been lost.
Tonally and aesthetically, Mirrlees’ instruments have a kindred alignment to Conacher, Hill, Forster & Andrews (et al), whose numerous Scottish instruments often fell under Mirrlees’ care. Throughout the later decades of the 19th century, a steady stream of some 25 new instruments were commissioned, including a notable instrument for St. Andrews Parish Church in Glasgow in 1874. This large two-manual instrument had more developed tonal resources in the Swell and Pedal divisions than earlier instruments. The culmination of the firm’s new output was an organ for Inverkip Parish Church in Renfrewshire, completed in 1909 and happily still surviving.
Mechanically the instruments remain conservative and it appears that there were no serious commercial pressures to push forward with developments in pneumatic mechanisms at the turn of the 20th century -a time when many other builders were preoccupied with patenting their own designs. Only very occasionally were exhaust pneumatics used in the rebuilding of larger instruments (such as St. John’s Episcopal Church at Greenock, early 20th century). By contrast, it’s worth pointing out that the smaller 1909 instrument at Inverkip could for all the world have been built by the firm forty years previously, in terms of the mechanical execution.
[i] https://canmore.org.uk/event/673400 [accessed 03/06/2023]
[ii] https://canmore.org.uk/site/168964/glasgow-40-north-woodside-road-st-josephs-roman-catholic-church [accessed 03/06/2023]
[iii] Charnock (SJ), Rev J: Notes on the History of St Joseph’s Glasgow (via Scottish Catholic Archives)
[iv] Glasgow Free Press, Saturday 19th November, 1853
[v] Glasgow Free Press, Saturday 21st September 1867
[vi] Idem
[vii] Idem
[viii] Glasgow Herald, Monday 2nd March 1868
[ix] Daily Mail, Monday 6th March 1871
[x] Riach, Alan: The legacy of Gerard Manley Hopkins lives on in his poetry, 8th July 2016 [https://www.thenational.scot/news/14868086.alan-riach-the-legacy-of-gerard-manley-hopkins-lives-on-in-his-poetry/]
[xi] Hamer, Laura: ‘Every impulse and spring of art seems to have died in me, except for music’: Gerard Manley Hopkins as composer, The Musical Times, Winter 2018 p39
[xii] Lackamp, John Jerome: The Influence of Music on the Life of Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1960, p.19 [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48601505.pdf]
[xiii] Scottish Catholic Observer, Friday 25th April, 1997, p7
[xiv] Our Holy Redeemer’s Clydebank 100 years 1903-2003 (centenary booklet – various authors including Tom Logue, James Moffat, James Ward and Fr James Martin) p29
[xv] Idem pp29-31
[xvi] Idem
[xvii] Stewart, D. A (revised Buchan, A): Organs of Scotland, A Revised List, 2020, p.98
[xviii] Scottish Catholic Observer, Friday 25th April, 1997, p7