Restored Cast Iron Radiators

Every radiator in this collection is a genuine period original — salvaged, then restored to order in our Stockport workshop using exactly the same process as our restoration service: you choose the finish and specification, we strip it back and rebuild it, with new seals and valves fitted where needed. You get a piece of history, priced transparently as the radiator plus its restoration — and backed, like everything we restore, by our 25-year Cast Iron Guarantee.

Where each one spent its first hundred years is honestly unknowable — nobody kept per-radiator records when these were cast. But the iron usually keeps one fact safe: its maker. The great foundries cast their names and marks straight into the metal — CRANE on the top of an end section, an NRC monogram or the word IDEAL on a bush end — and reading those marks is part of every restoration. Every radiator we restore is documented through the workshop, station by station, and its record stays on file for the life of the guarantee.

Choose your pattern below, then set the height, length and finish on the product page with our easy online configurator — genuine period craftsmanship, restored to modern performance.

Every restored radiator is built to order — typically ready in four to six weeks depending on repairs and stock, with an estimated completion date given as soon as yours starts through the workshop. Browse the colours on our cast iron radiator finishes page, and if you’re not sure what size the room needs, our free BTU calculator works it out room by room.

The makers behind these radiators

The building a radiator came out of is rarely recorded — the foundry that cast it almost always is, because the makers put their names straight into the iron. The restored stock that passes through our workshop traces back to a handful of great names, and two above all: Crane Ltd of Ipswich, and the National Radiator Company of Hull that became Ideal Standard. We’ve written a short, properly sourced history of each — who they were, what they made, and how to read the marks they left in the casting.

Crane Ltd, Ipswich

Born in a Chicago brass foundry and grown into one of the great names of twentieth-century heating, Crane cast radiators at its Ipswich works for decades. A genuine Crane usually announces itself: the name cast on top of an end section above the bush, sometimes a diamond-and-C mark on the bush ends, and a slight inward bow at mid-leg. Crane originals appear among our restored stock as they come through the workshop, and restored Cranes join our ready-to-ship range whenever stock allows. Read the Crane story.

The National Radiator Company & Ideal Standard, Hull

One firm, two names in the iron. The National Radiator Company built its Hull factory in 1906 as the British arm of the American Radiator Company; it became Ideal Boilers & Radiators in 1934 and Ideal Standard in 1953 — the radiators were cast at the same Hull works throughout. The column patterns in our range are the style the reclamation trade attributes to Hull, and the marks even help date a casting: an NRC monogram points before 1934, the word IDEAL after it. Read the NRC & Ideal Standard story.

We describe our radiators by pattern, and record a foundry only where the casting itself proves it. Some pattern names — the Princess among them — appear in more than one maker’s period catalogue, so a name alone is never treated as evidence. The moment of truth is the blast back to bare iron at the start of restoration, when marks that have spent decades under paint become legible again — and what the metal shows goes on the radiator’s record. Not sure which pattern suits your building? Call us on 0161 843 8163 or reach us via the contact page and we’ll talk it through.

More from the maker library: the Beeston Boiler Company of Nottinghamshire, 1893 to 1976.