James
Pulham and Son were one of the most well-reputed firms of landscape
gardeners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact, it may
be more accurate to refer to them as 'landscape artists,' rather than
'landscape gardeners,' because that is the impression one gets when
viewing some of their work that still survives today. They used to
specialise in the creation of picturesque rock gardens, constructed
from both natural and artificial rock, and the greatest possible care
was always taken to ensure that it blended, almost blissfully, into
its natural surroundings.
Once
you know what to look for, it is not difficult to identify a 'Pulham
garden,' although you need to know its date of construction before
you can identify the individual behind it. This is because there were
actually no fewer than four James Pulhams - four generations of Pulhams,
with each successive eldest son called James, and each James continuing
the business of his father! In order to avoid confusion throughout
these Notes, it will therefore be easier if we use the generation
suffices of James (1) to James (4) to identify them.
James
(1) was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1788, and was the eldest of
ten children in a very poor family. James and his younger brother
Obadiah were apprenticed to John Lockwood, the major builder of the
town, and both showed a remarkable talent for stone modelling. In
fact, they were so gifted in this respect that James was promoted
as a foreman by the time he was thirty.
John
Lockwood's nephew, William, joined the firm, and took it over when
John retired. He was particularly interested in the current fashion
for ornamental stonework, and invented his own 'Portland Stone Cement'
to use for this purpose, because he found its natural stone colour
to be far preferable to the brown Roman cement that had invariably
been used hitherto.
William
Lockwood expanded his business to London in 1824, and took James (1)
and Obadiah with him to supervise the modelling work. William eventually
tired of the travelling backwards and forwards between Woodbridge
and London, however, and decided to retire to Woodbridge, leaving
the Pulhams in London, where they continued the business on their
own.
The
one big project for which James (1) and Obadiah are known was the
building of a large Norman-style folly at Benington Lordship, near
Stevenage in Hertfordshire, for which the designer was probably Thomas
Smith, an eminent architect and the County Surveyor of both Hertfordshire
and Bedfordshire.
Benington Lordship (1835-38)
(Photo from 'Picturesque Ferneries
and Rock Gardens Scenery' by James Pulham c.1877)
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, working for some years with
his uncle, Obadiah. He moved up to Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, in
1842, where they had a number of influential contacts.
One
of these was John Warner, for whom James (2) landscaped a large garden
in the grounds of his house, 'Woodlands.' The major features of these
gardens were the lakes, cascades and fountains amid clusters of both
natural and artificial rocks. They created the artificial 'rocks'
by building the rough shapes from rubble and old bricks etc, and then
coating them with cement - their craftsmanship being in the way in
which they were able to simulate the surface of natural rock with
this cement covering.
Their
next 'garden assignment' was for William Baker, at Bayfordbury, near
Hertford, where they built a rock garden, and later returned to build
a grotto and further rockwork in the pinetum on the estate. William
Baker's brother-in-law, Thomas Gambier Parry, owned Highnam Court,
near Gloucester, and contracted James (2) to create a spectacular
rock garden in the grounds of his house. The gardens at 'Woodlands'
in Hoddesdon have since been completely 'redeveloped,' as has also
the original rock garden at Bayfordbury. Hardly anything remains of
the Bayfordbury grotto either, although the gardens at Highnam Court
still exist in remarkably good condition, which means that these are
effectively the earliest surviving example of a Pulham garden today.
Ponds and Streams at Higham Court (c.1849)
(Photo c.1900 reproduced by permission of Tom Fenton)
One
gets the impression that Obadiah Pulham was not particularly interested
in his nephew's diversion into landscape gardening, because he went
off to Europe to act as Clerk of Works on a number of church-building
projects for Thomas Smith, but, in the meantime, James (2) moved a
mile or two south from Hoddesdon to Broxbourne, where he built a new
house for himself, and a 'manufactory' in which he produced a wide
range of garden ornaments - vases, fountains, balustrading etc - from
his own 'Pulhamite' cement and terracotta. These became extremely
well known and sought after, and he won a number of medals for his
work at the 1851, 1861 and 1862 Exhibitions in London and Paris.
James
Pulham (3) - 1845-1920
James
(2) took his son, James (3) into the business in 1865, and from that
point the firm became known as James Pulham and Son. They continued
with their manufactory, and their list of clients for whom they created
picturesque rock gardens, ferneries, grottoes, follies etc expanded
steadily, taking in many of the most notable country estates and parks
around the country, including Battersea Park, Audley End, Sandringham
Royal Estate, Waddesdon Manor, the Swiss Garden, Old Warden, St Stephen's
Green in Dublin, Madresfield Court and Bawdsey Manor, near Woodbridge.
The spectacular Rock Garden at
Madresfield Court
(c.1877)
They
produced a comprehensive promotional booklet entitled
'PicturesqueFerneries and
Rock Garden Scenery' c.1877, in which they extolled the
natural beauty of their creations, gave a list of their 'satisfied
clients,' and appended a list of fernery and alpine plants that they
recommended for use in these environments. They opened a London office
in Marylebone Road during the 1880's - probably around 1883 - and
later moved to Finsbury Square.
James (2) moved to live in Tottenham at about that time, leaving James
(3) to take over the house and manufactory in Station Road, Broxbourne,
so this indicates that, from that point on, James (2) concentrated
on the marketing aspects of the business, and left his son to concentrate
on production. It was also about this time that they decided to abandon
their building and restoration work in order to focus their efforts
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. This featured streams, cascades and lakes,
a gazebo, and a wonderful series of sunken caves, grottoes, tunnels
and ferneries.
Henry
Oakley bought Dewstow on 1893, and apparently wanted his gardens to
be 'something different.' He was also somewhat of a recluse, because
it doesn't appear that he told anyone about them! After his death
in 1940, the estate went through several hands, and one owner buried
all the rockwork under topsoil so that he could graze his cows over
the land.
Due
to the fact that the rockwork was constructed after the publication
of Pulham's booklet c.1877, no records survived of the gardens, although
it can be assumed that they date from around 1895. Remarkably, they
were only rediscovered in 2000 when W E Harris and Son bought the
land and house for incorporation into Dewstow Golf Club. They
are now undertaking a massive restoration project that will hopefully
reveal all. Thankfully, most of the features are in remarkably good
condition, and this will certainly become one of the brightest jewels
in the crown of our Pulham heritage.
The Lion Grotto at Dewstow (c.1895)
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, so there seems little
doubt that this would have been the point at which he was taken into
the firm as the new Junior Partner in the 'updated' James Pulham and
Son.
James
(3) decided to keep a London office, although its location was changed
again in 1902, when they moved to 71 Newman Street, off Oxford Street.
It is not known for sure how this was run, or how the responsibilities
were split during this period, although it is probable that James
(3) decided to follow his father's example, and move to London to
take over the marketing reins, leaving the manufacturing aspects to
his son in Broxbourne. In any event, the firm continued to prosper
for a further twenty years, adding such names as the Gardens at Buckingham
Palace, the RHS Gardens at Wisley, Merrow Grange, Bracken Hill and
Rayne Thatch in Bristol, and the seafronts at Blackpool, Lytham St
Anne's, Ramsgate and Folkestone to their list.
James
Pulham (4) - 1873-1957
The
Great War of 1914-18 and the subsequent depression virtually put an
end to this sort of work, as the money and the men required to undertake
the garden maintenance work were no longer readily available. James
(3) retired, and died in 1920, and the fortunes of the firm declined
steadily after that until they eventually went out of business during
the World War of 1939-45. James (4) died in 1957, and the family house
and manufactory were demolished in 1967 to make way for a new station
car park and flats.
Remains of the Pulham Manufactory
and Grinding
Wheel. (c .1966)
Please click on any photo for a larger Image
Sadly,
no records of the firm survived, and it is thought that these must
have either been lost or destroyed. However, Claude Hitching, a descendent
of five of the Pulham 'rock builders,' is currently doing his best
to piece together as many pieces of the Pulham jigsaw as he can, in
the hope of eventually producing a book about their lives and work.
It is a fascinating project, and he would be delighted to hear from
anyone with any information that may be relevant or of interest. He
can be contacted at:
