HOLY TRINITY CHURCH
VENTNOR.  ISLE OF WIGHT
WARM AIR STOVE
HEATING SYSTEM




It must be assumed that the Architect working from Taunton would have known of, or had previous dealings, maybe working experience with the heating engineers G N Haden & Sons from Trowbridge Wiltshire. The firm of Haden's had a wide reputation for the satisfactory heating of Churches in the mid-Victorian era when they installed hundreds of their patented warm air stove installations throughout the country. 


The Church was commissioned to be built in 1860 by  three sisters Agnes Percy, Ellen Thompson and Louisa Julia Percy.  C E Giles the Architect  from Taunton in Somerset was commissioned to carry out the design.


This wall plaque  in the 
Church dated 1900 
commemorates the fact.

The church has one of, if not the tallest spire of any church on the Isle of Wight which unfortunately is overshadowed by St  Boniface Down otherwise it would have been a widely noticeable landmark.











Research carried out at the Haden Archive held by the Wiltshire Record Office in Trowbridge showed in the original Order Book for that time period that the stove was a size No 2 and given the number of 1907 with an entry date of 19th January 1860. Every Haden stove installed was given its own unique number. 
  







The warm air stove  and its arrangement of large builders work air ducts were integrated into the design of the building structure  for the church.

These large builders air ducts were routed underground to distribute the warm air into the Church through seven cast iron floor gratings each with an approx. size of  36 inches by  18 inches. The gratings  are all positioned  in the aisles to the  rear of the church.





It is exceptional to find  a  warm air stove complete with its ventilation ducts and gratings intact (even though disused) 140 years after its installation, and still complete with its
original fire bars and stoking tools.
 

CIBSE HERITAGE GROUP
JUNE  2001