The Barrel Organ was made by Bevington & Sons of London, a well known firm of organ builders, in 1845 according to the National Pipe Organ register.

It was installed at Bishops Hull Church, Taunton in 1845.

In 1862 Revd Samual Sheddon bought it from Bishops Hull Church for £10, for St. Nicholas Church, Kilton, near Kilve, where his son was vicar.

In 1981 Revd Minshull obtained a faculty enabling it to be installed at St. Etheldreda's Church, West Quantoxhead.  Restoration and installattion was done by John Bishop & Co. of Ipswich a cost of almost £3,000.

The organ had been moved and stored at Winsors Farm, Holford for two years prior to moving to West Quantoxhead.

In 2006 John Budgen of Warminster and local volunteers supervised repairs and the damaged mahogany gears were replaced by gears made of Tufnell, and many staples were replaced on the barrels.  At last all three barrels could be played and most tunes recognised, in time for the Church's 150 years celebrations.

The Organ.

*   It contains three barrels, with ten hymn tunes and two psalm chants on each barrel.

*   The barrels are about four feet long with a diameter of about 10 inches.

*   The organ requires two people to operate it, one to pump the bellows and one to turn a handle which turns the barrel.     (This has to be done quickly - I wonder if they used to sing hymns much slower?)

*   There are seven stops: diapason, dulciana, stop diapason treble, stop diapason bass, principal, fifteenth and       sesquialtera.

*   There are over two hundred pipes, the smallest of these being no thicker than a pencil.

*   As tunes are not all the same length it may play extra twiddly bits (officially called "the symphony") between verses       which can surprise singers!

The full list of tunes on the barrels is on the attachment below.