Introduction
The previous Section of this series examined the lives and work of the Broxbourne firm of James Pulham and Son up to the end of the 19th century. This Section focuses on two fascinating Pulham gardens constructed around the turn of the 20th century. One of these is in Elstree, and the other can only be identified as being ‘Somewhere in Hertfordshire,’ because it must be emphasised that both of these are on private property, and the current owners do not welcome ‘uninvited visitors’.
As was noted in the earlier Sections, the first James Pulham was apprenticed and worked as a master stone modeller. He died suddenly at a comparatively young age, leaving his business in the hands of his son, James 2, who was only eighteen years old at the time.
Whilst inheriting his father’s technical and artistic skills as a stone worker, James 2 was also extremely interested in horticulture, and soon developed a skill for garden landscaping, with particular emphasis on rock gardens and ferneries etc. If natural stone was not economically available, he simply built his own from heaps of old bricks and rubble, coated with his proprietary cement that later became known as Pulhamite.
James 2 took his son into the business in 1865, thus forming the firm of James Pulham and Son. He died in 1898, and, by the time this Section opens, James 3 was in charge of the business, with his son, James 4 as junior partner.
This Chapter begins at Aldenham House – now Haberdashers’ Aske’s School – at Elstree.
1892-97 – Aldenham House, Elstree
Henry Hucks Gibbs inherited Aldenham House from his mother in 1850, and decided to move there from his house, St Dunstan’s, in Regent’s Park, in 1868. He succeeded his uncle, William Gibbs, as Senior Partner of the City banking house of Antony Gibbs & Sons, in 1872. William was the last surviving son of Antony, and the then owner of Tyntesfield, near Bristol. Henry Hucks was elected MP for the City of London; became Chairman of the Conservative Association, and was appointed Governor of the Bank of England in 1875.
He then became an MP for the City of London; Chairman of the Conservative Association, and was appointed Governor of the Bank of England in 1875. That apparently gave him enough spare time to become a JP, and he was then appointed as High Sheriff of Hertfordshire – by which time he was reputed to be one of the four richest men in England. In recognition of this tireless commitment to public duty, Queen Victoria conferred on him the title of the first Lord Aldenham in 1896.
Fig 4.1 – The ‘large’ Pulhamite bridge over the ‘Big Pool,’ showing Mrs Pulham on the left, and Mr Beckett, the Head Gardener, on the right, c1893. (Photo from Aldenham Archives)
When he moved into Aldenham House, he immediately set to work transforming the house and estate into a country residence befitting a man of his position – his first task being to renovate, improve and extend the rather ‘neglected and somewhat dilapidated’ house, which was a mammoth job in itself.
With the help of his younger son, Vicary, and his Head Gardener Edwin Becket, he then turned his attention to the gardens, and established a collection of trees and shrubs on the estate that rivalled those at Kew. He was an extremely organised and methodical man, and began keeping a yearbook in 1871 in which he meticulously documented the alterations and developments that he made to both the house and the estate. In 1892, for example, he recorded that:
‘ . . Pulham is now making a filterer for the reservoir, under the great Chestnut where the pipes end. Also a bridge over the stream, continuing the Back of Road (from the Aldenham Road) into the Garden Yard.’
This is the sort of evidence that has been so useful in establishing the dates for some of Pulham’s later work. Another encouraging factor in this task has been the enthusiastic help and collaboration received from descendents of the families involved with the various estates on which the firm worked, or the people responsible for their care and management today. I am indebted to a countless number of people for the information that we have accumulated during this research project, and the person I have to thank in this particular case is the present Lord Aldenham, who has kindly given me permission to reproduce some pictures from his family archives. The picture in Fig 4.1 is of the ‘Large Bridge,’ referred to in Henry Hucks’ Yearbook entry of 1892, and a note on the reverse of the photograph explains that the group of people consists of Mrs Pulham, a Miss and Mrs Girton, and Mr Edwin Beckett, the Head Gardener.
Fig 4.2 – Looking upstream from the ‘Large Bridge,’ over the ‘Big Pool,’ small cascade and rocky stream towards the ‘Small Bridge’ c1900 (Photo from Aldenham Archives)
There is another entry in Lord Aldenham’s Yearbook for 1897, which reads:
‘The old Rustic Bridge is rotten, and a new bridge of ‘Pulhamite’ and Stone is to take its place.’
It is consequently known that James 2 or 3 returned to Elstree to do some more work in 1897, and the bridge to which Lord Aldenham refers is called the ‘Small Bridge.’ Apart from its size, it is almost identical to the ‘Large Bridge,’ and it can be seen in the background of Fig 4.2, which is a charming view, looking upstream, past the waterfall, from just above the Large Bridge. These two bridges are typical of several constructed by this firm – there are two very similar ones in the gardens of Buckingham Palace – being of routine brickwork construction, coated with Pulhamite cement, moulded to simulate ‘old rustic stone.’ This picture would have been taken c1900 – just about 100 years before the picture in Fig 4.3, which was taken from roughly the same spot.
This section of the stream between the two bridges is effectively the centrepiece of Pulham’s work on the Aldenham estate, but he also did considerably more on either side. The water actually flows from a very large Pulham-made artificial lake near the entrance to the estate, through the stream and under the bridges, and into a swimming pool on its way over a number of weirs, and into a sump at the bottom level of the grounds.
Lord Aldenham’s son, Vicary, inherited the estate when his father died, but, after his own death in 1932, the family were unable to keep on the house and its estate staff of more than 100 people. The estate consequently fell into decline, but was taken over by the BBC as an overseas broadcasting station during the War. They stayed for twenty years, by which time the grounds had deteriorated almost beyond recognition.
Fig 4.3 – Along the banks of the rocky stream between the two bridges
The Haberdashers’ Company purchased the house and estate in 1959, with the intention of moving their Boys’ School from Hampstead. A great deal of very intensive work was done to clear the overgrowth, and restore as much as possible of the original gardens, as well as convert the house and some of the old buildings. They also built a series of new school buildings, and were finally able to open the new Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Boys on 11th October 1961. It still thrives today, and, thanks to them, the gardens look a picture!
1911-25 – ‘The Node,’ ‘Somewhere in Hertfordshire’
And now over to ‘The Node,’ whose location I have been asked to keep secret. ‘The Node,’ which derives its name from the Saxon words, ‘atten ode,’ meaning ‘at the mound,’ or ‘funeral pile,’ although no Saxon remains have yet been found within its boundaries. Neither is there any record of a house on this site until 1638, but there must have been one, since a deed of that date refers to three or four previous occupants, including a John Brocket, by name.
The property passed through a number of hands until 1849, when it was purchased by William Reid, a partner in the giant brewing firm of Watney, Combe and Reid, who lived there until his death in 1867. It was during this period that he commissioned Joseph Paxton to design and build a Peach House in his Kitchen Garden – reputed to be the only Peach House in the world outside Kew Gardens. There may even be a possibility that James 2 could have been involved in its actual construction, since he was certainly well known by this time for building glasshouses for exotic plants, conservatories and ferneries etc, but lack of documentary evidence means that we can make no positive claim for this.
Fig 4.4 – James Pulham (3) 1845-1920 (Reproduced from ‘The Gardeners’ Magazine 10th February 1912)
It is known, however, that the firm were definitely responsible for the next major stage of the gardens’ development, because The Gardeners’ Magazine’ dated 10th February 1912 includes an item about James 3, in which it notes that his recent works included ‘a new terrace garden at ‘The Node‘, hence the estimation that this particular piece of work was done c1911. This article also included the only known photograph of the James Pulhams, so it is reproduced here as Fig 4.4.
By the time this work was done, the estate had changed hands a few more times, and was then owned by Charles Alexander Nall-Cain, another millionaire brewer – this time from Liverpool. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Page Croft MP, of Fanhams Hall, Ware, and later became the first Lord Brocket – it being assumed that he probably took this name from John Brocket, one of the first owners of The Node.
Lady Brocket is known to have been an enthusiastic gardener, so it was probably she who commissioned James 3 and/or 4 to construct some formal and informal gardens around the house. There were some fascinating old photographs of these gardens, which illustrate that their work must have been quite extensive. One example of these is the picture of the magnificent rose pergola in Fig 4.5, in which one can also see the balustraded terrace of the house in the background. Sadly, the pergola is no longer there, although the pathway that ran through it does still exist. This goes from the terrace to the water garden – shown in Fig 4.6 – so the chances are that this was also constructed at the same time.
Fig 4.5 – The rose pergola at ‘The Node’ (Photo from Pulham’s Catalogue c1925)
Lord Brocket sold The Node in 1926 to a wealthy American, Carl Holmes, who lived there until 1938. He invested lavishly in improving and enhancing the estate, and his Agent, a Mr Dunford, is recorded as recalling how two large inter-connecting lakes were dug near the house ‘during the mid-1920s’ in a part of the estate that was later sold off, and now belong to the adjacent garden centre. These lakes can be seen in the distance of the picture reproduced here as Fig 4.7, which is of the formal Sunken Garden at the side of the house, and is taken from The Node Archives. Based on the above details, we assume that this would have been taken c1930.
This garden still exists, very much as it was then, and other photographs of the lakes show the rock-lined shores that are indisputable evidence of Pulham’s handiwork. This consequently implies that they revisited The Node during the mid-1920s, and it was probably during this phase that they added the charming little rock garden in a glade near the water garden. A picture of this is shown in Fig 4.8.
Fig 4.6 – The water garden
Fig 4.7 – The Sunken Garden c1930 (Photo from ‘The Node Collection’)
Carl Holmes was at this time married to a Japanese lady, and it was for her that he also had a Japanese garden constructed in another part of the garden that is now privately, and separately owned. This garden is still there, but is massively overgrown, although some old photographs exist that enable us to see it as it was.
The story goes that Carl Holmes paid for a Professor to come over from the Japanese School of Gardening in Tokyo to design the garden, together with a team of Japanese gardeners, who worked jointly with ‘local workers,’ so it would be intriguing to know who these local workers may have been. It is quite possible that James Pulham and Son were involved on a collaborative basis, because there is apparently extensive rockwork here, and it is also known that Pulhams were responsible for a number of Japanese-style gardens around this time.
Fig 4.8 – The rocky pool in the glade
Following Carl Holmes’ departure in 1938, The Node passed through two or three more private hands before Shell Mex and BP bought it as a Group Training Centre in February 1952. Shell UK Ltd took it over in 1975, but sold it to Safeway plc in 1990, who in turn sold it to its present owners, the Chartridge Conference Company as a state-of-the-art hotel and conference centre in 2000.
The Hitching ‘Rock Builders’
It would be difficult to conclude a series of articles like this on the work of James Pulham and Son in Hertfordshire without referring once more to my own interest in the subject. I mentioned in the first Section of this study that five of my ancestors all worked for the firm as ‘rock builders’ – in other words, they were the craftsmen who were sent around the country to supervise the construction of the rock gardens. They used to recruit local workers to do the heavy work – like site clearance, cement mixing and barrowing etc, which may well explain the above rather vague reference to the use pf ‘local workers’ at The Node – and use their sculptural skills to finish off the ‘rocks’. They would use brushes, combs, and even old pieces of sacking, to make their finished product look as genuinely ‘natural’ as possible.
For several generations, my ancestors used to live in the area of Great Bardfield, in Essex, but then, c1865, my great-grandfather, William, moved down to Hoddesdon. By the time of the 1871 Census, he was working as a ‘Rock Builder,’ as was also his brother George, who was living at the same address. I would love to know what prompted William to move from Great Bardfield, but there is no doubt that both he and George were working for Pulhams by that date.
William had six sons, three of whom also grew up to be ‘Rock Builders’, and one of these was Frederick, my grandfather. During the 1930s, when I was very young, I often used to watch him do this work. He was retired by then, but he still did the occasional private job, and Fig 4.9 shows him at work for a client in Broxbourne c1935.
Fig 4.9 – Frederick Hitching at work during the 1930′s
And that is the reason for my interest in this firm. When I started out on this research, I had no idea where it would lead me, but it has been a fascinating journey, and I have met some wonderful people and seen some beautiful gardens that I would otherwise never have had the opportunity to see. I have treasured every minute of it.
Postscript
There is still one tantalizing piece of this jigsaw that I have so far been unable to find, and maybe there is a chance that one of my readers may be able to help.
When the last James Pulham – James 4 – died on 20th April 1957, his younger brother, Ernest, was named as sole executor of his Will. In April 1966, the Hoddesdon Journal carried an article by its Reporter, R G Freeman, about an interview he had had with Ernest at his home in 2 Stafford Drive, Hoddesdon, in which he mentioned a ‘time-worn album of photographs’ that occupied a special nook in his home. These pictures showed ‘in fine detail some of the intricate landscape designs and distinctive rockeries – the work of Ernest’s grandfather, James 2, his father, also named James (3), and his four brothers, Robert, Frederick, Sydney and Herbert.’
This album would be an invaluable addition to our archives, but I have so far failed to trace it – assuming that it still exists. Ernest died on 12th November 1966 – not long after the above interview was reported – and his Will decreed that all his property should be bequeathed to David John Moreton, son of his niece, Phyllis Violet Mary Moreton, of ‘Inglewood,’ Ledsham, Wirral.
My investigations revealed that there were nineteen David John Moretons listed in the U.K., and I wrote to every one of them in the hope that one may still have this unique album of photographs. Twelve responded negatively to my enquiry, and I did not hear from the others, although I still live in hope that the album may still be out there somewhere. So, if anyone is able to give me a lead that may put me in touch with the real David John Moreton, descendant of the James Pulham dynasty, I would be forever grateful.
And finally, if you would like to know more about this firm – both within and without the confines of our county boundary – why not check out the Pulham internet website at www.pulham.org.uk? Alternatively, if you have any comments or questions about these articles, contact Claude Hitching direct at 11 Asquith House, Guessens Road, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 7LA; telephone 01707 323391, or e-mail claude@hitching.net. There may well be a possibility that you know of a previously unrecorded Pulham site, in which case I shall be particularly interested to hear from you.
Editor’s Footnote
Due to the vast amount of interest that this series has attracted, we are publishing some further information that has recently come to light. All will be revealed next month!
