Robert C Fielding

Organs & Organists of St. Martin's Church, Salisbury.: A brief historical survey compiled by Robert Fielding Robert C Fielding

Covering a period from 1657 to the present, Robert Fielding has collected together information about the organs and organists of the 11th century parish church of Sarum St. Martin in Salisbury. The central source of information is taken from the book Notes on St Martin's Church and Parish compiled by Thomas H. Baker which was published in Salisbury in 1906. Baker had unearthed several valuable sources from which he drew his 'notes'. Churchwardens' Accounts, Vestry Books and other documents had been discovered in the 'Parish Chests'. Other sources included Hatcher's History of Salisbury, St Martin's Parish Magazine, the Gentleman's Magazine and help given by Rev. C. N. Wyld, who was Rector at the period of the last restoration, the Rev. Canon Myers and Mr. W. C. Pearce, then the Parish Clerk, who apparently communicated details 'known to no one else'. With similar aims to Thomas Baker, Robert Fielding has aimed to provide a booklet for those interested in what has been taking part in St Martin's with regard to the people that have spent time there as musicians and the instruments that have appeared and disappeared in a procession that brings us to the present inherited 1869 William Hill organ, a fine example of this builder's work and one that remains remarkably close to its original conception. This second edition includes information found in a cupboard in the organ loft during a 'spring-clean'. Amongst many letters and documents were estimates, reports and advice from a number of sources dating from the 1960s.