[4] The Minster is one of Doncaster's most architecturally important buildings evidenced by its Grade I listing[1] and was described by Sir John Betjeman as "Victorian Gothic at its very best".

This instrument was praised by John Stanley, who declared "every pipe in the reed stops to be worth its weight in silver".

The organ had just been relocated from the west gallery to the chancel and its pedal extended to 32 ft pitch, when it was consumed by fire, along with the entire building, on 28 February 1853.

The leading architect of the day, Sir George Gilbert Scott, was commissioned to rebuild the church, a task which he completed in only four years.

[citation needed] Rogers made many visits around Europe inspecting famous organs, often in the company of his friend E. J. Hopkins (organist of the Temple Church).

[citation needed] The Flauto Traverso he describes thus "double length in the upper part....the pipes being of wood bored and turned to a cylindrical shape were in reality so many actual flutes".

The exhibition organ did not by itself produce any orders for the firm and it may have been Hopkins' personal familiarity with some of the German instruments which finally clinched the Doncaster commission for Schulze.

One observer reputedly noted that the large 32 foot principal was cleverly made from the wooden packing cases of the shipment itself.

According to Rogers, Schulze spent three weeks regulating and finishing the mixtures working from the early hours of the morning until midnight and sleeping on the bellows before resuming his labours.

In order to obtain more definition in his pedal department, Schulze provided the first known example of a wooden 16 ft Violone, fitted with a box mouth to steady the speech.

Stop names and characteristics unfamiliar in this country included the Quintaten, Lieblich Gedackt, Gemshorn, Dolce, Terpodian and of course the famed wide mouthed Schulze diapason.

In 1910 the only significant changes were made to the instrument with the replacement of Schulze's "borrowed" solo manual with an independent department in its own swell box.

Another new swell-box was provided for the echo organ making it in the words of Magnus Black "inaudible above the traffic except in the early hours of the morning".

In 1935 J W Walker & Sons provided a new electro-pneumatic action and radiating terraced stop tab console on the south side of the choir (see plate VI).

Further work was carried out by Walkers in 1959 including the replacement of the original pedal chests, which after 100 years service were no longer reliable.

The organ at Doncaster Minster is the Magnum Opus of Edmund Schulze and is the largest instrument that the firm produced.

Magnus Black summed up its musical significance thus: "The classical revival....led to an appreciation of well-balanced manual choruses and independent pedal departments......These are among the features of the Doncaster Schulze.