St Mary's Church, Haddenham

History

Parts of the church are 12th century Norman, from when the Benedictine abbey of Rochester, Kent held the parish. The first priest was called just Gilbert.

Other parts of the building may be from the original Saxon church, including the font, which has a drawing of a dragon imprinted on it. The tower is Early English Gothic and according to experts, it is the finest demonstration of Early English in the county.

In 2008 the church had major refurbishments, as part of the Millennium 2 project. A new vestry, creche and kitchen were built and the roof was repaired, along with other additions and fixings.

Organ

A pipe organ built by Norman and Beard of Norwich was installed in 1967. The organ had been built in 1916 for a church in London, which was bombed in the Second World War. In 2007 this was replaced because it's restoration would cost more than a new instrument so a new electric organ was put in the church as part of the parish's Millennium 2 project.

Organ Specifications

The full organ specifications are as follows:

Great Organ

Double Diapason 16

Open Diapason 8

Stopped Diapason 8

Dulciana 8

Principal 4

Flute 4

Twelfth 2 2/3

Fifteenth

Blockflute 2

Sesquialtera II Alterable Voice

Mixture IV

Orchestral Trumpet 8 Alterable Voice

Trumpet 8

Clarinet 8

Couplers

Swell to Great

Swell to Pedal

Great to Pedal

Swell Tremulant

Great Tremulant

Gt & Pd Pistons Coupled

Auto Pedal

Swell Organ

Open Diapason 8

Chimney Flute 8

Echo Gamba 8

Voix Celeste 8

Principal 4

Rohr Flute 4

Fifteenth 2

Larigot 1 1/3 Alterable Voice

Mixture III

Scharf III Alterable Voice

Contra Fagotto 16

Cornopean 8

Oboe 8

Clarion 4

Pistons

8 Pistons to Great

8 Pistons to Swell

8 General Pistons

3 Reversers

Set & Cancel Pistons

8 toe pistons duplicating generals

Stop sequencer system with 16 pages and 8 steps per page

Sequencer Advance thumb piston in Swell key slip

Audio

6 Audio channels

Full range speakers South wall

Pedal Organ

Contra Bourdon 32 Alterable Voice

Open Diapason 16

Subbass 16

Bourdon 16

Octave 8

Gedackt 8

Choral Bass 4

Flute 4

Trombone 16

Trumpet 8 Alterable Voice

Features

Two Expression Pedals

Alternative Voicing Programme

64-Stop Library

Alesis reverberation unit (characteristics selectable via keyboard commands)

Wind noise and wind robbing effects

Full MIDI interface

Multi LED display showing capture system status, library stop selection and sequencer function

12 different tuning Temperaments

Theatre Tremulant switch

Headphone socket

Transposer and fine tuning control

Two additional alterable-voice specifications controlled by pistons (German and French)

Five different tunings for celeste

14 speed and 8 depth variations for tremulants

Organ Console finished in dark oak"

Famous relations

The astronomer William Rutter Dawes is buried in the churchyard. He did much of his work with the stars in his private observatory in Haddenham. Craters in the Moon and on Mars are named after him, along with a gap in Saturn's ring. Also Sir Denis Arthur also buried in the same place. Very interested in telescopes and microscopes, the Dawes limit is named after him as well. Many episodes of the murder mystery television series Midsomer Murders were filmed in Haddenham, with the church being a major part of the productions.