World cup winner!

Rochester Cathedral’s  wonderful organ has been voted the nations’ most beautiful in a light-hearted World Cup of Cathedral Organ Cases. Organised by a former Cathedral organist, the Twitter campaign was held in January. Rochester fought through the group stages, eventually winning a hard fought semi-final against Gloucester Cathedral, winning by 966 votes to 963. The final, held on 30th January, was against Durham Cathedral. Almost 1,800 people voted and Rochester won by a margin of 124 votes.

The organ casing and pipes were designed by the architect Gilbert Scott and installed during his substantial restoration work in the 1870s. The organ itself dates from 1791, but has been modified several times, with the last major rebuild in 1989. There are now 88 stops and 3,808 pipes.