Percy Bacon & Brothers Stained Glass

Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Coggeshall, St Peter ad Vincula (lost works).

Essex

Coggeshall St Peter ad Vincula Design for Organ

Drawing by Ernest Geldart for one of the screens, (facing the chancel). PD Image.

Interior of St Peter ad Vincula, Coggeshall, early 20th century.
The organ with decorated pipes by Percy Bacon & Brothers is just visible between the columns of the south arcade, and behind Ernest Geldart's screen.
PD Image from a postcard in the author's collection.

Drawing by Ernest Geldart for the screen and organ case, (facing the chancel). PD Image.

Organ Pipe Decoration. 1895.

Posted 30 September 2023.

An earlier organ installed in 1873 had, "gone out of repair", so in 1895 a new one was commissioned from Messrs. Bishop and Son, London at a cost of £450.¹ It was dedicated on St Thomas's Day 1895. Ernest Geldart provided the designs for the screens, the carving was carried out by Mr W. B. Polley of Coggeshall, and the pipe decoration by Percy Bacon & Brothers. The Chelmsford Chronicle described the decoration as; "..richly guilded and coloured, [with the] noticable feature in the decoration being that each pipe has Its proper signature, written in old English black letter on the mouth. This means any pipe may easily be identified in case of accidental cyphering".

During the night of 16th September 1940 a German bomb exploded in the churchyard of St Peter ad Vincula which severely damaged the north arcade bringing much of it crashing to the ground. The nave roof also came down, as did part of the tower some time later. The huge east window and rood screen survived, and from contemporary photos, so did much of the fabric in the south aisle. The Coggeshall Museum website takes up the story:

"The top of the tower had to be demolished and the ruins were cleared and tidied up. The chancel and the two side chapels were relatively undamaged and it was decided that they would have to serve as the church until reconstruction could be undertaken. To make a usable space, the arch between Chancel and Nave, and the two side arches were bricked up, the choir stalls removed to create more space, and some of the pews recovered from the Nave were repaired and installed to provide seating. The shattered windows were reglazed with clear glass and the organ was dismantled and removed. The whole process took 9 months and cost £1,300."

The Coggeshall Museum website has a very good description of the works which were undertaken to bring the church back to its former splendour, and that which we see today, along with many contemporary photographs. In one of the photographs looking east towards the chancel, the orgain is just visible between the columns of the south arcade. A detailed description and photographs of the rebuilding of the church following the bombing was written by the then vicar of St Peter's, and published in the 1955 edition of the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society.²

The Essex Weekly News comprehensively described the organ, its decoration and the screen thus:³

"The casework, winch is of Riga Oak, in unusually rich and elaborate, made on the model of the old German organs, with three projecting "turrets" or clusters of pipes corbelled out over the screen, which is similar in design to the three parclose screens recently erected, this screen, like the rest, consisting of light tracery panels. The screen supports the front towards the choir. The central turret is connected with the side ones by two richly carved fans of intricate tracery, behind which are placed the remaining pipes of the great organ. These front pipes, which are all speaking ones (with no dummies), are guilded and coloured, a noticeable feature in the decoration being that each pipe has its proper signature written in old English black letters by the mouth. By this means any pipe may easily be identified in case of accidental cyphering. The western side of the casem towards the south aisle, is also decorated, though somewhat simpler in character than the main front of the organ. Above the cornice level is a long panel on which is painted the first verse of the hymn, Te Deum in Latin, with the ancient plainsong of the Ambrosian melody. The whole of the work has been designed by the Rev. Ernest Geldart; the oak work and carving have been executed in a splendid manner by Mr. W. B. Polley of Coggeshall; and the decoration of the pipes was undertaken by Messrs. Bacon Bros of Newman Street, London."

References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.

Chelmsford Chronicle - Friday 27 December 1895, p6
Rev. Norman Brown, F. The Rebuilding of Coggleshall Church after Damage by Bombing. Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, Vol XXV. Part 1. p244.
Essex Weekly News, 27 December 1895, p4.

Location Map:

NGR: TL 85346 23017
Sat Nav Post Code: CO6 1UD