4 Manual and pedals with 58 speaking stops.
At the beginning of the 19th century a new organ of 3 manuals was provided by the trustees of the Magnus, Brown’s and Phyllypott’s charities at a cost of £1300. It was built by George Pike England (the most notable organ-builder of the time) and placed on the west gallery (which divided the west nave or ‘ante-church’ from the rest of the building).
In 1814 the organ was re-located on the chancel screen and the choir, which for the previous ten years had led services from the organ gallery, returned to the chancel.
In the 1850’s during the great Restoration under Sir George Gilbert Scott, the organ was rebuilt by Forster and Andrews of Hull, provided with a new case and again re-located, this time to its present position in the south choir aisle.
In 1866 the organ was rebuilt and enlarged by the foremost contemporary organ builder, ‘Father’ Henry Willis. Willis virtually doubled the size of the instrument and its case, creating one of the largest and finest Romantic four-manual church organs in the country.
The organ was again rebuilt by William Hill and Son in 1910 at the expense of Mrs Becher Tidd Pratt and family, and subsequently by Hill, Norman and Beard in 1924, 1938, 1964 and 1978 when it was rebuilt and more voices added.
It is now electrically operated by the Ellen Dynamic Transmission system which allows much greater mobility of the organ console, providing more direct contact with the congregation and the choir; it is the first four-manual instrument in the country to be so equipped, enabling a live performance to be electronically recorded and replayed automatically.
See other images of The Organ in St Mary Magdalene church, Newark