The unmistakable chords of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor provided an atmospheric backdrop to my first visit to Notre Dame. That was many years ago now, and I still don’t know how we managed to time our visit so perfectly, but organ music always adds to the experience of visiting a cathedral.

Most of the time, I’m not lucky enough to be visiting when the organist is practising, but organs are things of beauty in their own right. Our recent researches for Heritage Weekends provided frequent opportunities for organ-spotting.

The Grand Organ in York Minster dates from the early 1830s and is one of the largest cathedral organs in the country. We were lucky to visit in Summer 2021, not long after the completion of a once-in-a-century restoration project. Whilst we did not hear it in action, the painted pipes were looking very smart.

Norwich Cathedral…