Pulham House

A local industry that rose from small beginnings to acquire a nationally-known name was that, for long established at Broxbourne, under the name of Pulham & Son, garden craftsmen and rockery specialists. The firm was originated by a James Pulham who came to Hoddesdon in 1820. He started as a plasterer and cement worker, later launching out as a builder at a building in Amwell Street, now the Sun inn (since rebuilt). In 1845 be built and moved into a house near the station at Broxbourne, which he called Pulham House, and started the works there. He erected kilns and workshops and began the manufacture of terracotta. In later years when cremation started, the firm made the first cinerary urns and caskets and later still, the first bird-baths.

Mr. Pulham was an adept in the use of cement, and being a keen student of architecture, devoted a good deal of his time to the restoration, mainly external, of churches in cement. Many Hertfordshire churches, as well as a number much further afield, including the famous church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, bear witness to his handiwork.

Pulham Fountain

Another of his activities at that time was the construction of rock gardens in artificial stonework. In this he was engaged all over the British Isles. When King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) bought Sandringham, Mr. Pulham was engaged to construct the Boat Cave and other work there in rock.

About 1865 he was joined by his only son, James, and the title of the firm was changed to Pulham & Son, which it has since retained. In 1895 Mr. J. R. Pulham, grandson of the founder, joined the firm. By this time it had become necessary to take a London office, and one was set up in Marylebone Road, later moved to Finsbury Square, and still later to Newman Street, West London.
During the next twenty years many large and important works were undertaken, including the extensive rock formation and water- falls at Battersea Park and Stephen’s Green, Dublin. On the accession of King Edward VII, the King did much to improve the gardens at Buckingham Palace, employing Messrs. Pulhams to carry out the work. When the Royal Horticultural Society laid out their new garden at Wisley, they asked a few principal firms to submit a scheme for an extensive rock garden, and Messrs. Pulham were successful in receiving the order for the work. In the early part of the 1900s more large works were undertaken all over the kingdom. Hoddesdon visitors to the seaside have no doubt seen and admired rock gardens, etc., at the following places, though possibly not aware that they were the production of a local firm: Ramsgate, Folkestone (“The Leas”), St. Annes on Sea (Ashton Gardens), and Blackpool.

The Grinding Wheel

The firm was honoured with a Royal Warrant of Appointment to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in 1895, continued when he became King Edward VII and also by King George V.
Owing to the Great War of 1914-18 and the subsequent depression virtually put an end to large-scale landscape gardening work, as the money and the men required to undertake the garden maintenance were no longer readily available. The fortunes of the firm declined, until they eventually went out of business during the World War of 1939-45. The family house and manufactory were demolished in 1967 to make way for a new station car park and flats.

You can learn more abour James Pulham and Son in a forthcoming article.