Editing Westminster Abbey (section)

===Organ===
The first record of an organ at Westminster Abbey was the mention of a gift of three [[Mark (currency)|mark]]s from Henry III in 1240 for the repair of one (or more) organs.<ref name="Knight-2001">{{Cite thesis |last=Knight |first=David Stanley |title=The Organs of Westminster Abbey and their Music, 1240–1908 |date=2001 |degree=Doctoral |publisher=King's College London |url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/studentTheses/the-organs-of-westminster-abbey-and-their-music-1240-1908}}</ref> ''Unum parem organorum'' ("a pair of organs") was recorded in the Lady Chapel in 1304.<ref name="Knight-2001" /> An inventory compiled for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540 lists a pair of organs in the choir and one in the Islip Chapel.<ref name="Knight-2001" /> During the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]], a Royalist source said that soldiers who were billeted in the abbey "brake downe the Organ, and pawned the pipes at severall Ale-houses for pots of Ale"; an organ was played at the Restoration in 1660, however, suggesting that it had not been completely destroyed.<ref name="Knight-2001" /> In 1720, an organ gifted by George II and built by Christopher Shrider was installed over the choir screen; organs had previously been hidden on the north side of the choir. The organ was rebuilt by [[William Hill & Son]] in 1848.<ref name="Knight-2001" />

A new organ was built by [[Harrison & Harrison]] in 1937, with four [[Manual (music)|manuals]] and 84 [[Organ stop|speaking stops]], and was played publicly for the first time at the [[coronation of George VI and Elizabeth]] that year.<ref name="Harrison & Harrison" /> Some pipework from the previous Hill organ of 1848 was re-voiced and incorporated into the new instrument. The two organ cases, designed and built in the late 19th century by J. L. Pearson, were reinstated and coloured in 1959.<ref name="The National Pipe Organ Register">{{cite web |title=Westminster Abbey (St. Peter), Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, Middlesex [N00646] |url=http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N00646 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020154809/https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N00646 |archive-date=20 October 2022 |access-date=31 July 2012 |publisher=The National Pipe Organ Register}}</ref>

In 1982 and 1987, Harrison & Harrison enlarged the organ at the direction of [[Simon Preston]] to include an additional lower choir organ and a [[Pipe organ#Romantic period|bombarde organ]].<ref name="Harrison & Harrison">{{cite web |title=Westminster Abbey |url=https://www.harrisonorgans.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Westminster-AbbeyFULL-2021.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512064042/https://www.harrisonorgans.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Westminster-AbbeyFULL-2021.pdf |archive-date=2023-05-12 |access-date=24 April 2023 |publisher=Harrison & Harrison}}</ref> The full instrument has five manuals and 109 speaking stops. Its console was refurbished by Harrison & Harrison in 2006, and space was prepared for two additional 16-foot stops on the lower choir organ and the bombarde organ.<ref name="The National Pipe Organ Register" /> The abbey has three other organs: the two-manual Queen's Organ in the Lady Chapel, a smaller [[Basso continuo|continuo]] organ, and a practice organ.<ref name="classicfm"/>