Gordon the history man, Gustav Holst and a very special organ

You get more than good photographs with lensman Gordon Ridgewell – you also get a taste of history.

He tells us: “I called in at The Swan in Thaxted for lunch and had a look in the church to take a few pics. On a bright cloudy day, the detail is amazing in the light and airy church.”

Gordon’s image shows the Lincoln Organ, the earliest surviving English church organ still with its original parts.

Built in 1821 by Henry Cephas Lincoln for St John’s Chapel, Bedford Row, London, it was one of the fittings sold when structural problems resulted in the chapel being demolished in 1856.

The organ was bought for £230 by Thaxted Parish Church and installed in 1858. It was played by Gustav Holst while living in Thaxted and it was during that time he wrote much of his orchestral suite The Planets.

Holst ensured the village’s immortality when he gave the name Thaxted to his melody that had been set to the patriotic hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country (the melody itself came from the Jupiter movement of The Planets).

The Lincoln Organ was replaced in the 1950s, but thankfully this famous piece was left in place – an appeal launched in 2008 raised £300,000 for its restoration, which was completed in 2014.