The Armley Schulze - Where's Where ?

		Paulinzella
		Paulinzella, site of the former workshops of J.F.Schulze & Sons was the birthplace of the Armley Organ. In our case it was the '& Sons' who carried out the work. This small village, which was known as Paulinzelle in the Schulze era, lies 100 km south-west of Leipzig in Germany, and not far from Weimar. It is best described in a contemporary account in the way that T.S.Kennedy and his companion and chronicler of the early days of the Armley Schulze, Thomas Clifford Allbutt, came upon it in 1866. This is Allbutt's account as set out in 'The Armley Schulze Organ' by Kenneth I.Johnstone (no longer available):
		"... we drove through the uplands and woodlands of Thuringia till we arrived on a certain hilltop whence we looked down upon a village in a dale not very far from Weimar [30 km to the north-east]; a little way out of the village beside a stream running down from a glen in the Schwarsburg we saw the organ works of the brothers Schulze, whose father had been an organ builder there before them. In a rustic building with a small water wheel, little more than a roomy carpenter's shop, we were fortunate to find the artist at home. ... we passed an idyllic two days with this simple-hearted and gifted family in their beautiful home; some hours we spent with them on the hills, some in the humming shop by the little beck ..."

From left to right: the Schulze Family home, the Finishing Shop and the Workshop beside the stream.

Meanwood

Meanwood, now a suburb of Leeds, was the site chosen by Thomas Stuart Kennedy for his home. Kennedy, who commissioned the Organ from the Schulze family, built himself a large mansion, known as 'The Towers', the house name no doubt derived from the towering chimney stacks which characterised the building. (It might well have become known as 'The Stumps', since the chimneys were prone to toppling in high winds.)

In Kennedy's day, the house would overlook Meanwood Valley, now a dribble of greenery following a small tributary to the River Aire, running from Leeds' green belt down towards the city centre. There would be a strong awareness at the time of the local leather industry, Meanwood being home to one of the city's large tanneries, completed in 1857. Capable of dealing with 70,000 hides at a time, the works along with neighbouring ones at Kirkstall had to import raw materials from as far away as India, since it's demand easily out-stripped the home supply.

Still standing, the house looks quite incongruous as it centres a small estate of mid-20th century housing. No.29, Towers Way, and the full width of roadway fronting the property, now stand on the site of the former Organ House.

Meanwood Towers, in the mid 20th century.

Area once occupied by the Organ chalet.

Harrogate

Harrogate, the second home of the Armley Schulze, was by the end of the 19th Century a thriving and fashionable spa town. Nicholas Carter, of Spring Bank in the town, was one of the main developers of Harrogate as a spa, and it was his two daughters who purchased the Organ from Mr.Kennedy. Over 80 springs provided the town with its main attraction, now a thing of the past, surviving at present only in museum form. (Currently there are plans to restore them to their original glory.) Since the middle of the 20th Century Harrogate has taken off as a major conference centre, along with its horticultural connections. It hosts the renowned annual flower show in the near-by grounds of the Great Yorkshire Show. From Leeds, the popular view of Harrogate is one of superior company, or more to the point 't'folk theer are nobbut stuck up'. Certainly, in the period when our Organ was moving around the County, it was the haunt of the select.

St.Peter's, where the Organ rested briefly, is a very attractive town centre church, built in 1876. It is happily able to boast the fact that it is open every day, so there is little restriction to visiting what turned out to be Edmund Schulze's last organ (the replacement for the one bought for Armley). However, the instrument can hardly now be labelled as the work of Schulze, as it has been considerably altered over the years by various builders, especially in 1952 when it underwent a major re-build, during which they 'used some old pipework, but also took the opportunity to extend the instrument'^*. In 1986 they even had two electronic 32 foots added, stepping even further away from the Schulze recipe! As a contemporary, St.Peter's could hardly be more different from the Church at Armley, and a visit makes it obvious that in terms of organ design, what suited one could hardly sound right in the other. The visitor should also note that Schulze was obliged to install the Meanwood organ in the wide but stunted South Transept of St. Peter's, making it remote from the main body of the Church. It's replacement commands a much better position in the former vestry area to the south of the chancel.

For details of St.Peter's Organ restoration programme - www.stpetersharrogate.org.uk

^*From the current organ leaflet on display in and available from St.Peter's.

St.Peter's, Harrogate. The current organ, adapted from the original Schulze.

Armley

Armley, in Leeds, is now described by the loaded term 'inner city'. From no more than a hamlet in the 18th Century, it had grown into a township of around 30,000 people by 1900. This came about purely through industrialisation, marked in Armley's case by many mills, some of which still exist, albeit dormant or serving some other purpose. In its day, towards the end of the 19th Century, Armley was a concentration of back-to-back terraces, with still enough whiff of the country to be home to a number of wealthy industrialists. Before long, these leaders of society were obliged to seek more salubrious out-of-city areas, leaving behind a growing working class population and the embarrassment of abandoned manor houses. For this reason, the Church of St.Bartholomew's now stands out like a sore thumb, above the clutter of modern streets and basic housing. It was the wealth and rivalry of the local notables which lumbered the people of Armley with this cathedral-like edifice (in terms of internal volume it is the largest church in the whole of the Ripon and Leeds Diocese, not counting the cathedral at Ripon itself). Contemporary wealthy jostling adorned the Church with the extravagances of late-Victoriana, fortunately stopping short before all the wall panels were filled with colourful mosaics. While it is a worthy auditorium for the mighty Schulze Organ, the Church is now quite incongruous in the local community, yet it remains as the focal identity for the populace.

A recent picture of Gott's Park Mansion

Armley, in common with many other places, if you try hard enough, can be traced back to pre-Domesday times, as the fortified settlement of a Danish chieftain. It really came into its own in the 18th Century, with the arrival of the woollen mills, with Armley Mills being at one time the largest woollen mill in the world. Later, Armley Mills was bought and augmented by Benjamin Gott, the main benefactor of the original church next to the present site of St.Bartholomew's.

Armley Mills is now preserved as a fascinating industrial museum. Armley's less proud boast is the impressive castellated structure of Armley Gaol, with its central tower, romantically presumed by all the local youngsters to be the place where the many executions took place.

From a position of localised wealth in the late 19th Century, Armley has fallen into the implied poverty which 'inner city' brings to mind. Certainly, no-where within its bounds is there the wherewithal to support unaided a Church the size of St.Bartholomew's or the particular appreciation of an inheritance such as the nationally unique Armley Schulze Organ.

Armley in the late 20th Century The vast auditorium of the 'New' Church of St.Bartholomew, Armley

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		Meanwood
		Meanwood, now a suburb of Leeds, was the site chosen by Thomas Stuart Kennedy for his home. Kennedy, who commissioned the Organ from the Schulze family, built himself a large mansion, known as 'The Towers', the house name no doubt derived from the towering chimney stacks which characterised the building. (It might well have become known as 'The Stumps', since the chimneys were prone to toppling in high winds.)
		In Kennedy's day, the house would overlook Meanwood Valley, now a dribble of greenery following a small tributary to the River Aire, running from Leeds' green belt down towards the city centre. There would be a strong awareness at the time of the local leather industry, Meanwood being home to one of the city's large tanneries, completed in 1857. Capable of dealing with 70,000 hides at a time, the works along with neighbouring ones at Kirkstall had to import raw materials from as far away as India, since it's demand easily out-stripped the home supply.
		Still standing, the house looks quite incongruous as it centres a small estate of mid-20th century housing. No.29, Towers Way, and the full width of roadway fronting the property, now stand on the site of the former Organ House.


	Harrogate
	Harrogate, the second home of the Armley Schulze, was by the end of the 19th Century a thriving and fashionable spa town. Nicholas Carter, of Spring Bank in the town, was one of the main developers of Harrogate as a spa, and it was his two daughters who purchased the Organ from Mr.Kennedy. Over 80 springs provided the town with its main attraction, now a thing of the past, surviving at present only in museum form. (Currently there are plans to restore them to their original glory.) Since the middle of the 20th Century Harrogate has taken off as a major conference centre, along with its horticultural connections. It hosts the renowned annual flower show in the near-by grounds of the Great Yorkshire Show. From Leeds, the popular view of Harrogate is one of superior company, or more to the point 't'folk theer are nobbut stuck up'. Certainly, in the period when our Organ was moving around the County, it was the haunt of the select.

	St.Peter's, where the Organ rested briefly, is a very attractive town centre church, built in 1876. It is happily able to boast the fact that it is open every day, so there is little restriction to visiting what turned out to be Edmund Schulze's last organ (the replacement for the one bought for Armley). However, the instrument can hardly now be labelled as the work of Schulze, as it has been considerably altered over the years by various builders, especially in 1952 when it underwent a major re-build, during which they 'used some old pipework, but also took the opportunity to extend the instrument'^. In 1986 they even had two electronic* 32 foots added, stepping even further away from the Schulze recipe! As a contemporary, St.Peter's could hardly be more different from the Church at Armley, and a visit makes it obvious that in terms of organ design, what suited one could hardly sound right in the other. The visitor should also note that Schulze was obliged to install the Meanwood organ in the wide but stunted South Transept of St. Peter's, making it remote from the main body of the Church. It's replacement commands a much better position in the former vestry area to the south of the chancel.

	For details of St.Peter's Organ restoration programme - www.stpetersharrogate.org.uk

	^*From the current organ leaflet on display in and available from St.Peter's.


St.Peter's, Harrogate.	The current organ, adapted from the original Schulze.


	Armley
	Armley, in Leeds, is now described by the loaded term 'inner city'. From no more than a hamlet in the 18th Century, it had grown into a township of around 30,000 people by 1900. This came about purely through industrialisation, marked in Armley's case by many mills, some of which still exist, albeit dormant or serving some other purpose. In its day, towards the end of the 19th Century, Armley was a concentration of back-to-back terraces, with still enough whiff of the country to be home to a number of wealthy industrialists. Before long, these leaders of society were obliged to seek more salubrious out-of-city areas, leaving behind a growing working class population and the embarrassment of abandoned manor houses. For this reason, the Church of St.Bartholomew's now stands out like a sore thumb, above the clutter of modern streets and basic housing. It was the wealth and rivalry of the local notables which lumbered the people of Armley with this cathedral-like edifice (in terms of internal volume it is the largest church in the whole of the Ripon and Leeds Diocese, not counting the cathedral at Ripon itself). Contemporary wealthy jostling adorned the Church with the extravagances of late-Victoriana, fortunately stopping short before all the wall panels were filled with colourful mosaics. While it is a worthy auditorium for the mighty Schulze Organ, the Church is now quite incongruous in the local community, yet it remains as the focal identity for the populace.

	Armley Mills is now preserved as a fascinating industrial museum. Armley's less proud boast is the impressive castellated structure of Armley Gaol, with its central tower, romantically presumed by all the local youngsters to be the place where the many executions took place.
	From a position of localised wealth in the late 19th Century, Armley has fallen into the implied poverty which 'inner city' brings to mind. Certainly, no-where within its bounds is there the wherewithal to support unaided a Church the size of St.Bartholomew's or the particular appreciation of an inheritance such as the nationally unique Armley Schulze Organ.


Armley in the late 20th Century	The vast auditorium of the 'New' Church of St.Bartholomew, Armley