stmaryschurchhayonwye.co.uk Website Analysis for March 2026

Henry Bevington set up his organ-making business in Soho, London in 1820. His four sons joined him and, as time passed, further generations of Bevingtons took over. When the firm finally closed in 1950, it had constructed more than 2,100 organs and had exported them all over the world. St Mary’s Bevington organ was built in 1833, a magnificent instrument with 3 manuals and around 2000 pipes. It came to St Mary’s via several country houses and finally as a gift from Holmer Church, Hereford. The cost of transporting, re-building and re-voicing (by Trevor Tipple of Worcester) was over £100,000, a sum raised by grants and donations and through the energy of Fr Richard Williams, then vicar of St Mary’s and an accomplished organist. Fr Richard: “So many churches are getting rid of their organs and replacing them with electronic ones, but we have travelled in the opposite direction. It is truly wonderful that we are now attracting major world-renowned organists to play the Bevington Organ in recitals and as accompaniment to choral works and concerts”. The Bevington Organ is now a big part of parish life. It is played every week for Sunday Mass, for the monthly organ recital on the first Saturday of each month, and for Fr Richard’s sell-out silent movie with organ accompaniment events during Hay Festival. Visiting organists are always welcome. Please contact Fr David.