"That is, if the church has a pipe organ. Most do, and pipe organs need periodic tuning as the seasons change. When organ tuners carry out that work, many will write down details of the ambient temperature and humidity at the time. Those observations are often recorded in small logbooks kept by the organ itself - and over time, they can build into a surprisingly detailed climate record."
"Taken together, these organ tuning books are now proving to be a valuable source of data, offering decades-long insights into how church interiors have warmed. That matters because churches appear to be heating up faster than the wider climate. However, as with climate change more broadly, this warming is also being driven by human behaviour. Congregations have gradually moved away from turning up in thick coats and enduring cold pews, and increasingly expect the heating to be set to high during services."
"There is an added irony. As churches replace ageing, expensive boilers with modern, more efficient heating systems, it becomes cheaper to nudge the thermostat upwards - potentially accelerating the problem. That is why long-term temperature records matter, and the realisation that pipe organ tuning records could be a source of that information. The study examined 18 organ record books: twelve from City of London churches and six from churches in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire."
Pipe-organ tuners often record ambient temperature and humidity in small logbooks kept with the instruments. Those logbooks accumulate decades-long records that reveal changes in church interior climate. Combined datasets show church interiors warming, often faster than the surrounding climate. Rising indoor temperatures are driven in part by congregational expectations for warmer services and by more efficient modern heating systems that make higher thermostats cheaper to run. Higher temperatures and humidity fluctuations pose risks to pipe organs and to historic timber, furnishings and fabric. Organs are typically tuned twice a year despite an ideal of four, making records patchy but still informative.
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