Zillah Castle was given the Stanesby tenor recorder in November 1954 by the sisters D B and F H Heath who were music teachers in Wellington. One sister had seen Zillah Castle playing a similar instrument at a talk to the Wellington Shakespearean Society.

Recounting the incident Zillah said that

‘its shape had reminded her of the strange old instrument that had lain in the bottom of an old oak chest brought out from England by her father Mr. Joseph Heath in 1900. He in turn had inherited it from his uncle, who came from Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. The Heaths’ eldest sons had been parsons and … the recorder was used to accompany the singing at this church in Tamworth.’

There is only one other tenor recorder known to be made by Thomas Stanesby snr. (circa 1668 - 1734). The Stanesby family were responsible for some the finest surviving English baroque period woodwind recorders.

An early example of his work, this Stanesby recorder replaced the Dolmetsch tenor recorder as the instrument in the Castle consort performances.