THE PERKINS PRESSURISED HEATING SYSTEM
IN ENGLAND


Several of these Perkins HPHW systems installed in the Victorian era survive to this day. They have to date all been found in Churches and Chapels located in the south of England. The fact that these systems installed during the 19th century are still heating their original buildings in the 21st century is a lasting tribute to the innovative design of their inventor Angier March Perkins.

Although these systems were originally designed to operate at high temperatures, with today’s lower acceptable temperature limit requirements for exposed pipework, and the introduction of pumped circulation and temperature controls, their flexibility of use has allowed them to remain in operation  for  over 160 years. 

Truly a most remarkable achievement.


Churches that have been discovered in England which
are still heated with a Perkins Pressurised System

St Michael’s & All Angels.  Bampton   Devon                 
St John the Baptist.  Yarcombe Devon


St John the Baptist.  Newport  Devon                       

St Margaret's  Northam  Devon

St Mary’s.  Bruton   Somerset                                  

St Mary’s.   East Brent  Somerset


St Michael’s & All Angels.  Bampton Devon

St John the Baptist   Halse   Somerset                         

St Peter's   Broadstairs   Kent

St Stephen    Winsham    Somerset                         

St Mary's   Bampton  Oxfordshire

St Michael the Archangel.   Mere   Wiltshire                         

St Michael & All Angels  Guiting Power  Gloucestershire       


It is of defining interest to discover that the Perkins type of sealed system found in these churches were installed by so many different
heating firms, all using the same HPHW design principle.

J Longbottom & Co Leeds                                     Henry Hope & Sons  Birmingham

    E W Stevens   Taunton                                          Musgrave's     London   and   Cardiff

                                                                             Renton Gibbs & Co  Liverpool                              John King Limited  Liverpool

Three of the churches in Devon are made even more remarkable because the Perkins systems have remained as originally installed including the brickwork heating furnace, and still using gravity water circulation. The furnaces were initially solid fuel fired but have now been converted to oil firing.

A selection of pictures showing various parts of the pipework and equipment
enabling  identification to be made as a Perkins HPHW heating system


Sinuous 10 tube high pipe
coil fixed  to timber panelling.

Sinuous low level 4 high pipe coil on floor
brackets fixed
to the back of pews

Arrangement of pipework at low level beside the raised pew islands
and
formed around base of the column.


A continuous spiral loop pipe coil heater 
(these can
sometimes to be hidden behind enclosure casings)


Twin expansion tubes

Typical screwed  pipe socket joint
showing the marks of
the assembly tool.


Single expansion tube


4-circuit brickwork furnace with oil burner            
Bampton Devon


2-circuit brickwork furnace with oil burner
Yarcombe Devon


2- circuit brickwork furnace with oil burner
Newport  Devon


4- circuit iron furnace with oil burner
Northaw  Herts



It was known that the Perkins family were not interested in installing their Patented heating systems but must have found it financially acceptable collecting royalties, to allow other firms to manufacture both the tubes and fittings and carry out the installation of the HPHW heating system. They may well have allowed smaller firms to simply install the system after purchasing the material from another manufacturer. The firm of Renton Gibbs Liverpool carried out numerous installations of HPHW heating systems in Churches throughout Radnorshire and Herefordshire at the end of the 19th century, based on the design of the Perkins system.

An estimate and invoice submitted by J Longbottom & Co of Leeds has been found in the archives of the Wiltshire History Centre. It is for the installation of a Perkins system in the Parish Church of All Saint's, Liddington Wiltshire, in the year 1901. The estimated cost for the supply and erection of the complete heating system is the princely sum of £58.00. 

A visit made to the church found the pipework system to have be removed many years ago. The only remaining item from the original system in the basement was the furnace complete with its 3 pipe circuits and the cast iron firing doors with their Longbottom inscription.



Wiltshire Record Office 1123 / 58




Wiltshire Record Office 1123 / 58

June  2003
Updated September 2019