The Cirencester Mission was founded from Fairford in 1885 with the opening of a chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in London Road. Standing alongside the River Churn, the building pictured opposite, is now commercial premises.
The foundation stone of St. Peter's was laid on 20 June 1895 by the Rt. Rev. William R Brownlow, Bishop of Clifton, and was the first that he had laid in the Diocese. The architect was Cannon A. J. C. Scoles, who designed some 20 churches included in the 26 page list of his works in the British Architectural Library. He was the son of architect J. J. Scoles, who was responsible for the London Jesuit church in Farm Street, Mayfair and like his brother I. C. Scoles, qualified as an architect before ordination. The builders were Collins & Godfrey of Tewksbury and Cheltenham and the altar is the work of Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham. Fr. James A. Martin, who served in Cirencester between 1894 and 1906 was Priest-in-Charge of the Mission (parishes came into being only in 1918) and successfully completed the building programme, including the house with 'not 1d of debt'. As a comparison with today's building costs, the total cost of the church and house including the architects fee, was just over £22.00! The land had been bought in 1892 for £500, provided by Cannon John Mitchell of Taunton and the Chilean Garcia brothers (former students at the Royal Agricultural College), when E. W. Cripps Esq. of Ampney Parks sold 6 of the 7 acres surrounding Ashcroft House for development.
Gifts donated by parishioners in the 1930's include the stained glass lancet windows behind the reredos depicting the founding of the church, a processional cross, a reliquary and a jewelled chalice. The small side altars with statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady with the infant Jesus date from just before the Second World War as do some of the benches from the chapel of the former Our Lady's Convent in Chesterton (1936-73); the remainder of the benches were made in the early days of the War. The stained glass window in the organ loft was installed in the mid 1950's.
The church celebrated its centenary in 1996 with, as its climax, Consecration by the Bishop of Clifton, Rt, Rev. Mervyn A. Alexander, on Saturday 5 October. Extensive refurbishment took place in the proceeding years. Redecoration included a ceiling stenciled with motifs of intertwined S(aint) P(eter) and is crossed keys copied from a more elaborate earlier design. A new stone altar (enclosing relics of St. Alphonsus Liguori founder of the Redemptorists) and English oak lectern stand in the recarpeted sanctuary. A new English oak organ loft from is decorated with carved shields of two Bishops of Clifton, Rt. Rev. W. R. Brownlow (1830 - 1901), who opened the church and M. A. Alexander (1925 -) who presided at its consecration, flanked by those of St. Peter and the Town of Cirencester.
The Original Organ was a tracker-action late Georgian organ dates from around the end of the 18th century. It was inaugurated in March 1993 and was to restored to its original condition when funds permitted.
Its specifications was:-
Manual (compass 54 notes) enclosed in swell box c.1870
Open diapason 8
Stopped treble 8
Stopped Base 8
Dulciana 8
Viol di Gamba - to tenor c (displacing original twelfth 2 2/3)
Principal 4
Flute 4 - to tenor C
Fifteenth 2
Tremulant
Pedal (compass 30 notes) - added late 19-th century
Bourdon 16
Manual - pedal coupler
Since the summer of 2011 the church has replaced the Organ with a new state of the art digital instrument Roland C380 with two manuals and pedals.
The C-380 will impress every organ player. With its authentic sound and outstanding playability, the keyboard feel and pedal touch make playing the C-380 a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It’s equipped with many features and comes with a stylish dark oak cabinet finish. The design is compact, lightweight and space saving.
· High-quality sound from Rodgers/Roland library
· Compact and lightweight body features a Dark Oak finish and a roll top with lock and key
· Cathedral-size sound thanks to the RSS ambience system
· Satellite speakers for creating the spatial dynamism of pipes
· Two 61-note manuals with tracker-action; 30-note parallel concave pedal board
· Instant switching between classical tunings, baroque pitch etc.
· Six user-MIDI couplers for ultimate flexibility in registration
· USB Flash Memory connector to store performances and registration sets
· Divisional Mute function to aid practice
Magnificent Pipe Sound in a Luxurious Classical Organ
· Compact and luxurious cabinet
· Thanks to its lightweight, space-saving cabinet and the attractive, elegant Dark Oak finish, the C-380 can be used in many different locations. It’s perfect for churches and concert venues as well for your home so you can practise at your convenience.
· Cathedral-size sound at your fingertips
· The C-380 is provided with RSS (Roland Sound Space) ambience system giving the rich, full sound of a pipe organ. Thanks to this technology you can choose a ‘virtual’ room size, wall type and reverb depth to create the realistic acoustic of a cathedral, church or concert hall. This environment can also be created in your home. Two satellite speakers are included with the C-380 which, when installed on a wall or ceiling, create the natural soundscape of a real pipe organ.
· Authentic pipe organ feel
· Enjoy the authentic tracker touch, allowing you to feel at one with the organ. You will experience the satisfaction of playing at a real pipe organ thanks to the acclaimed 61-note tracker-action keyboards (from the Roland C-330) and the 30-note parallel concave pedal board.
· A variety of tones
· Each speaking stop of the C-380 controls three different voices (Voice Palettes) covering a wide range of taste and styles from the Baroque era through to the large romantic organs of the 19th and 20th centuries. The C-380 contains USER Coupler functions, which combine your choice from a palette of organ and orchestral sounds with the C-380’s own stops. This allows you to create hundreds of different sound combinations and then store them on the organ’s memory pistons.
· Your best practice companion
· With C-380 you can practise by playing along with preset songs that are built into the organ, or with performance data that you have recorded from your own playing. When playing a song you can individually mute the performances of a specific division (MAN I/MAN II/ Pedal) or even play back with a softer tone. You can also use the metronome and practise day or night thanks to the headphones output.
Technical Specification
· Keyboards
·
Manual: 2 x 61 keys (C2 to C7, Tracker action)
Pedal: 30 keys (C2 to F4, Parallel Concave)
· Stops (Tablet)
·
Total 33 Stops
MAN I: 9 Tablets + 2 (User/MIDI Couplers)
MAN II: 10 Tablets + 2 (User/MIDI Couplers)
Pedal: 8 Tablets + 2 (User/MIDI Couplers)
4 Voice Palette each: 27 X 4 Total 108 voices
USER/MIDI Voice: 104 Voices
Total: 212 Voices
· Coupler
·
Manual Coupler: I/P, II/P, II/I
Equipped with tablets and pistons.
Melody Coupler: 1 (Piston)
Bass Coupler: 1 (Piston)
USER/MIDI Coupler: 6 (2 for each division)
· Tremulant (Tablet)
· MAN I, MAN II: Total 2
· Registration
·
General piston: 5 X 20 Memory Banks Total 100
MAN I divisional piston: 5 X 20 Memory Banks Total 100
MAN II divisional piston: 5 X 20 Memory Banks Total 100
· Piston
·
SET: 1 (parameters)
General Piston: 5 (registration)
MAN I divisional piston: 5 (registration)
MAN II divisional piston: 5 (registration)
M+, M-: 1 each (memory bank)
PREV, NEXT: 1 each (shift registration)
I/P, II/P, II/I: 1 each (manual coupler)
I/P ENCL: 1 (expression pedal I/P enclosed)
STOP, PLAY/PAUSE, REC: 1 each (song recorder)
0: 1 (General cancel)
· Effect
· RSS Reverb
· Controls
· 4 Knobs: [Master Volume] knob, [Reverb] knob, [Satellite Volume (Select/Menu)] knob, [Value (Exit Menu)] knob
· Key Transpose
· -6 to +5 (semitone steps)
· Temperaments
·
9 types (Equal, Werckmeister III, Kirnberger I/III, Vallotti,
Meantone D#/Eb, Pythagorean, Modern Bach)
· Pitch
· 4 types (Versailles: 392 Hz / Baroque: 415 Hz / Modern: 440 Hz / Venetian: 465 Hz)
· Master Tuning
· +/- 100 cents
· Song Recorder
·
Tracks: 1
Tempo: Quarter note = 20 to 240
Piston: STOP, PLAY/PAUSE, REC
· File Storage
· Media: USB memory
· Pedal
·
Expression Pedal: 1
Kick Switch: 2
· Speakers
· Woofer 20 cm x 2, Tweeter 5 cm x 2, Satellite Speakers 12 cm x 2
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