Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton CollegeNevill, Ralph
History
Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton College
Nevill, Ralph
Eton College
The behaviour of the College authorities in having discarded work
of high artistic interest, probably designed by Wren, is much to be
deplored. The evidence as to Wren having designed the panelling is
not absolutely conclusive, but much leads one to think that he was
concerned in its design. The Mr. Banks, “surveyor,” whose name has
been preserved as the designer of the costly woodwork, is probably
identical with Matthew Bankes, “master carpenter,” who, under Wren’s
direction, carried out the interior decoration and fitting of
Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, and other historical buildings.
[Illustration: Carved and Decorated Organ Case formerly in Eton Chapel.
_Specially photographed for this work with the kind permission of the
Very Rev. Felix Couturier, Prior of the Dominican Monastery of St.
Thomas, Rugeley._]
[SN: THE OLD ORGAN CASE]
The huge organ-loft, about twenty-five feet in depth, was approached
by a flight of steps, which Provost Godolphin placed across the church
within the choir. This loft or screen was a very fine piece of work,
with fluted columns of oak, two of which are preserved in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, and elaborate carving, by Grinling Gibbons, much
resembling the one which still remains at Trinity College, Cambridge.
The organ-case, which, curiously enough, has hitherto escaped all
detailed notice in books about Eton, was of oak, and consisted of four
towers and three flats of pipes--the pipe shades, lower frieze scrolls,
side brackets and centre shield of arms being beautifully carved and
well designed, while characteristically English in style. Above was a
scroll ending in a point, for the carving of which Bird (who executed
much fine woodwork under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren) was
paid £24 in 1703. The organ itself, built by either William Smith or
Father Smith, was erected in 1700, and cost a large sum of money for
that day. This organ and its beautiful case is specially mentioned
in _Organ-Cases and Organs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance_, the
erudite and artistic work written and illustrated by the greatest
English authority on the subject, Mr. A. G. Hill, who speaks of the
old Eton College organ as being perhaps the best of all similar organs
still remaining in England. It may be mentioned that the example
formerly at Whitehall, and now in St. Peter’s Church at the Tower
of London, much resembles it. After the Eton Chapel restoration of
1844-1847 this old organ, with its beautiful case, was discarded in
order to make way for a new one which was placed half-way up the choir
on the south side. No one seems to have thought the old organ worth
preserving, and the case was eventually found by a member of the famous
organ-building firm of Hill, lying about in bits in the yard of those
who had taken it down. Mr. Hill at once recognised the high artistic
value of the magnificent woodwork, and, after the various portions of
the case had been fitted together, adapted it to a new organ, which
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