(A heavily edited version of this article was published in Historic Gardens Review in August 2005 under the title of ‘Written in (Artificial) Stone.’   A lot of the pictures also had to be omitted, so this is the complete article, with all the pictures!

Who was James Pulham?

James Pulham and Son were one of the most distinguished firms of Victorian landscape gardeners, and are probably best remembered nowadays for their picturesque rock gardens, ferneries, follies and grottos.   But that wasn’t all they did.   They created formal rose gardens, ‘Italian’ and ‘Japanese’ gardens, and also manufactured a wide range of highly prized garden ornaments and furniture, such as vases, fountains, sundials, seats and balustrading etc, using both terracotta and their own proprietary brand of cement called ‘Pulhamite.’  

Wherever practical, they preferred to use natural rocks in their rock gardens, but, if these were not economically or readily available, they simply made their own by building rough shapes out of old bricks and rubble, and coating them with Pulhamite.   In this way, they were able to build artificial ‘rocks’ of truly gargantuan proportions.

My interest in this firm stems from the fact that no fewer than five of my ancestors - including my grandfather and great-grandfather - all used to work for Pulhams as ‘rock builders,’ and their craftsmanship lay in their specialised skill in simulating the colour and surface texture of natural rock.   Even Sir Roderick Murchison, the celebrated geologist of the day, was convinced that Pulham’s rocks were ‘natural to the place.’

The secret of the actual formula for Pulhamite is likely to have died with the last surviving rock builder, but it was almost certainly made from their own ‘Pulham’s Portland Stone Cement,’ which is thought to have been Portland Cement, with probably a little extra lime added, plus colouring materials as required.

There were actually four James Pulhams! - four generations, with each successive eldest son called James, and each James continuing the business of his father.   In order to avoid confusion here, it is proposed to identify them by their generational suffices of James (1) to James (4).

James Pulham (1)  -  1788-1838

James (1) was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1788.   He, and his younger brother, Obadiah, became apprenticed to John Lockwood, the major builder of the town, and James was so gifted as a stone modeller that he was promoted as a foreman in the modelling shop by the time he was thirty.   John Lockwood’s nephew, William, took over the firm when John retired, and developed his own ‘Portland Stone Cement’ to use for modelling purposes, because he found its natural stone colour to be far preferable to the brown Roman cement that had invariably been used hitherto.

Fig 1  -  The Folly at Benington Lordship   (Photo from ‘Picturesque Ferneries and Rock Garden Scenery’ published by James Pulham (2) c1877)   (Picture 1)

William Lockwood expanded his business to London in 1824, and took James (1) and Obadiah with him, but he eventually tired of the commuting between Woodbridge and London, and decided to retire to Woodbridge, leaving the Pulhams in London, where they continued the business under their own name.  

The one big project for which they are now known was the building of a large Norman-style folly at Benington Lordship (Fig 1), near Stevenage in Hertfordshire, in 1835.   A twin-towered gatehouse and ‘ruined’ wall were erected around one side and part of the front of the manor house to create the impression of a history going back into far distant times . . .

James Pulham (2)  -  1820-1898

James (1) died suddenly in 1838, not long after the completion of his work at Benington Lordship, and James (2) – who was only eighteen years old at the time – took over the business.   He and Obadiah moved up to Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, in 1842, and worked on a number of church building and restoration projects with Thomas Smith - a leading architect, and County Surveyor of both Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.    One of their major projects was the restoration of the ornamental stonework in the North Tower of the Church of St Mary Redcliffe, in Bristol, in 1845.[i]

Fig 2  -  The ‘Owl Grotto’ at Highnam Court  (Picture 2)

While in Hoddesdon, they landscaped a large garden in the grounds of ‘Woodlands,’ the home of John Warner, a local businessman.   It included lakes, cascades and fountains amid clusters of both natural and artificial rocks, and this must have triggered James (2)’s imagination, because he gradually began to concentrate on landscaping work, building up his firm’s enviable reputation, and working – often with the most eminent landscape designers of the time - for many of the aristocracy and noble gentry of the land.

One of his next patrons was Thomas Gambier Parry, who owned Highnam Court, near Gloucester.   He contracted James (2) to create a spectacular rock garden in the grounds of his house, and this is now the earliest surviving example of a Pulham garden.   The ‘Owl Grotto’ at Highnam is shown here as Fig 2.

Fig 3  -  A selection of Pulham vases ‘somewhere in England’

Fig 4  -  The ‘Hebe Fountain,’ for which James Pulham and Son were recommended for their ‘architectural decorations in terracotta’ at the Great Exhibition of 1862.   It was then installed in Dunorlan Park, in Tunbridge Wells, the home of Henry Reed, where it still resides today, and has recently been the subject of a Heritage Lottery Restoration Grant.

In 1846, James (2) moved to Broxbourne - a mile or two south from Hoddesdon - where he built a ‘manufactory’ for the production of a wide range of garden furniture and ornaments from terracotta and his own ‘Pulhamite’ cement.   His wares soon became extremely popular, and he won a number of medals for the excellence of his work at the 1851, 1861 and 1862 Exhibitions in London and Paris.   Meanwhile, his uncle Obadiah decided to stay with Thomas Smith, and became his Clerk of Works on a number of church building projects around Europe.  

Fig 5  -  A small domestic fountain, with terracotta base and Pulhamite basin.   It is still in operation ‘somewhere in England’

Fig 6  -  The boat cave and rockwork in the grounds of Sandringham

Fig 8  -  The fernery at ‘The Acacias,’ Reading, now part of Reading University

James (2) took his son, James (3) into the business in 1865, and, from that point on, the firm became known as James Pulham and Son.   They continued with their manufactory, and their list of clients expanded steadily, taking in many of the most notable country estates and parks around the country, including Battersea Park, Audley End, Sandringham Royal Estate (Fig 6), Waddesdon Manor, Madresfield Court and Bawdsey Manor, near Woodbridge.   Fig 7 shows the truly massive rock structures at Madresfield Court, near Malvern.

Fig 9  -  The Lion Grotto at Dewstow

James (2) produced a comprehensive promotional booklet entitled ‘Picturesque Ferneries and Rock Garden Scenery’ c1877, in which he extolled the natural beauty of his firm’s creations; appended a list of fernery and alpine plants that he recommended for use in these environments, and gave a list of their ‘satisfied clients.’  It was also about this time that they decided to open a Sales Office in London, and abandon their building and restoration work in order to concentrate on landscape gardening.

This was their most prolific period, and one of their most spectacular projects was the recently re-discovered ‘Hidden Gardens of Dewstow,’ near Newport in South Wales (Fig 9).   This featured streams, cascades and lakes, a gazebo, and a wonderful series of underground caves, grottoes, tunnels and ferneries.

James Pulham (3)  -  1845-1920

James (2) continued to work until within a week of his death in August 1898, which then left James (3) in charge of the business.   His son, James Robert (4) was twenty-five at this time, and became the new Junior Partner in the ‘updated’ James Pulham and Son.

James (3) decided to keep the London office, and presumably worked there himself, leaving James Robert (4) in charge of the Broxbourne manufactory.   The firm continued to prosper for a further twenty years, adding such names as the gardens at Buckingham Palace, the RHS Gardens at Wisley and Merrow Grange, near Guildford.

At the turn of the 20^th Century, Sir Edwin Lutyens was commissioned by Mark Fenwick to make extensive alterations to his house at Abbotswood, near Stow-in-the Wold, and to design the formal gardens immediately surrounding it.   It is thought that James Pulham and Son were engaged on at least some of this work, because the informal ‘naturalistic’ gardens just beyond the terraces certainly bear all the hallmarks of their work – the magnificent double waterfall is pictured here in Fig 10.

Fig 10  -  Double Waterfall in the gardens at Abbotswood;

Just five miles or so from Abbotswood lies the Batsford Arboretum, formerly Batsford Park, home of Lord Redesdale, a close friend of Mark Fenwick.   Having seen Pulhams’ work at Abbotswood, Lord Redesdale commissioned them to construct extensive rockwork along the stream that runs from the near the top of hill, right down to the lake at the bottom of the estate.   Fig 11 show the ‘Hermits Cave’ right at the top of the Park, and Fig 12 is a picture of the Japanese Rest House a short way down from the top.

Fig 11  -  The Hernits’ Cave at Batsford Arboretum

Fig 12  -  The Japanese Garden at Batsford Arboretum

This work would have been done around 1902, and Fig 13 is a picture of the Water Garden at Dutton Homestall, near East Grinstead in Sussex, where James (3) is thought to have constructed the fine gardens for the then owner, John Dewar, of the whisky empire, c1905.  

In 1910, he created a wonderful naturalistic rock garden at Rayne Thatch, Bristol, for Melville Wills, the tobacco magnate.   This is built into the hillside just above the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and consists of a linked series of five pools – the centre one of which is a swimming pool with graded depths and a grass patio above a boathouse – all constructed from artificial Pulhamite.   The picture in Fig 14 is the view of the lower one, as seen through the kitchen window.

Fig 13  -  The Water Garden at Dutton Homestall

Fig 14  -  Lower Cascade at Rayne Thatch, Bristol

Rayne Thatch was actually used by Melville Wills as his estate office, as his main house was immediately over the road, at what is now known as Bracken Hill.   Pulhams were called in at least three or four times between c1917 and 1927 to construct and extend a further series of rockwork landscaping projects, culminating in the Water Garden at the top of the estate, shown in Fig 15.

Fig 15  -  Water Garden at Bracken Hill – once the home of Walter Melville-Wills, the tobacco magnate, and recently the site of the University of Bristol’s Botanic Gardens

Fig 16  -  Rose pergola at ‘The Node,’ near Welwyn

Fig 16 is an old picture of the rose pergola, part of the formal gardens built by James (3) for the brewery millionaire, Sir Charles Alexander Nall-Cain – later to become the first Lord Brocket – at his home near Welwyn, Hertfordshire.   It is interesting to note - from the evidence provided by pictures reproduced here as Figs 12, 13, 15 and 16 – the gradual transition in taste from the ‘naturalistic’ style of the grand rock gardens to rather more formal gardens, albeit within a naturalistic framework.

James Pulham (4)  -  1873-1957

James (3) retired, and died, in 1920, and the fortunes of the firm declined steadily after that, so James Robert (4) never really had the chance to gain the same level of recognition as did his father and grandfather.   We do know of one rock garden for which he was responsible, however, and this is at ‘The Dell,’ near Egham, then the home of Baron Sir John Henry Schroder, of the German banking family.   This was constructed during the early 1920s, and continues the trend towards the more economical landscape, using natural rocks.   This is shown here as Fig 17.

Our inability to attach accurate dates to these later constructions is sadly due to the fact that the firm’s records were all destroyed when they finally went out of business at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939.   Our knowledge of all the work they did after the publication of their booklet in 1877 is consequently likely to be incomplete.   There is no doubt, however, that the Great War of 1914-18 and the subsequent depression virtually put an end to large-scale landscape gardening contracts, as the money and the men required to undertake the garden maintenance were no longer readily available.  

Fig 17  -  A rustic path in the gardens of ‘The Dell,’ Egham

What money there was lay largely in the hands of the local authorities, and the firm picked up some good contracts from coastal resorts, such as the seafronts at Blackpool, Lytham St Anne’s, Ramsgate and Folkestone.   Fig 18 shows the entrance to the zig-zag path that winds up The Leas at Folkestone, on which my grandfather, Frederick Hitching, was foreman.   He was also in charge of the work done at Rayne Thatch (Fig 14), and at Buckingham Palace.

Fig 18  -  Entrance to the Zigzag walk at The Leas, Folkestone

James Robert (4) died in 1957, and the family house and manufactory were demolished in 1967 to make way for a new station car park and a block of flats.   Fortunately, a grinding wheel and one kiln have been preserved as a monument to this once proud and significant part of Hoddesdon and Broxbourne’s industrial heritage (Fig 19).

Fig 19  -  The remains of the Grinding Wheel at the Pulham Manufactory just prior to its demolition in 1967

A Special Place

If someone were to ask which of my many Pulham experiences has meant most to me, it would have to be when I visited Rayne Thatch, in Bristol.   I knew that Frederick, my grandfather, was the foreman in charge of this project, so this was naturally one of the first Pulham gardens I went to see.   It was magical, and there were a number of places around the garden where I could imagine him as I often remember him – in his white apron, working with a trowel in his hand.   He is shown here at work on a private ‘rock building’ project in Fig 20.

And then, just on our way out of the garden, we came to an inscription stone, on which was roughly carved ‘F.H. 1910’ – his initials and the date he completed the job, inset in Fog 20.

Fig 20  -  ‘Rock Builder’ Frederick Hitching at work c1935

It made me wonder what he would have thought if he could have known that his own grandson would make a special journey here to Rayne Thatch to see the wonderful example of his craftsmanship, some ninety years after he had signed it off . . .

If you have any comments or questions about this article, you can also contact Claude Hitching direct at 11 Asquith House, Guessens Road, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 6QA (UK Tel: 01707 323391), or e-mail claude@hitching.net.   There may well be a possibility that you know of a previously unrecorded Pulham site – there may even be some Pulhamite in your own back garden! - in which case he would be particularly delighted to hear from you.

[i]    A J Francis – ‘The Cement Industry 1796 – 1914: A History’  p105