Introduction
The last Section of this brief series concluded with James Pulham and Son opening a Sales Office in London during the 1880s. The second James Pulham, ‘James 2′, moved to live in Tottenham, leaving his son, James ’3′, in Broxbourne to live in the family home, and manage the production of terracotta and Pulhamite garden furniture and ornaments in the adjacent manufactory.
This was their most prolific period, and 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 – ‘James 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 seems likely 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. In this Section, the focus changes to some of their gardens and ferneries that still exist – albeit in various states of preservation – in Hertfordshire. It must be emphasised, however, that all these gardens are on private property, and the current owners do not welcome uninvited visitors.
The Ferneries at Ponsbourne and Danesbury
In 1858, James 2 was asked by a Mr J Levick to construct an indoor fernery in the basement of his house in Ponsbourne, near Cheshunt – just a mile or two up the road from his new manufactory in Broxbourne. Many years later, the house became the Ponsbourne Hotel, but the fernery survived until 1987, when the house was taken over by Tesco plc as a training centre. They had no use for the fernery, but, rather than destroy this unique piece of garden heritage, decided to move it, piece by piece, to Capel Manor, near Enfield, and re-erect it as a wall ‘in the style of Pulham.’ It can be seen there today, but what James 2 would make of it is another matter. However, at least it was better than leaving it to be destroyed.
The picture in Fig 3.1 was taken by Michael Cousins, of the Folly Fellowship, a few years ago, during one of the last wedding receptions to be held at the Ponsbourne Hotel – hence the table covered by a white cloth in the foreground. It is a pity that one cannot see the bottom of the wall, but Michael confirms that there were planting pockets for ferns, and a shallow gulley at the bottom. The material is an imitation tufa – a very porous rock, rather like pumice stone, which is ideal for ferns.
Fig 3.1 – The Ponsbourne Fernery (Photo by Michael Cousins)
The following year, in 1859, James 2 was invited to build another fernery - this time in a small chalk pit in Danesbury Park, near Welwyn. Danesbury House was at that time owned by William-John Blake FRS, who had been the Whig MP for Newport, Isle of Wight, between 1837 and 1841, but whether or not Mr Blake was the driving force behind the creation of a fernery in the parkland surrounding his house is uncertain.
It is far more likely to have been Anthony Parsons, who was appointed as Gardener for the Danesbury Estate by William-John Blake’s father in 1851. Mr Parsons was a gardener renowned throughout the land for raising and developing new varieties of plants, and was particularly interested in ferns. While at Danesbury, he actually had one finely-crested dwarf golden fern named in his honour – the Gymnogramma chrysophylla parsonii.
In his promotional booklet, ‘Picturesque Ferneries and Rock Garden Scenery,’ James 2 quotes a Mr Williams – ‘the well-known fern and orchid cultivator’ – as saying:
‘That he should advise fern lovers – and everyone having a taste for chaste and elegant foliage – to visit Mr. Parsons at Danesbury, and see this charming spot. The rockwork here was executed by Pulham.’
He then goes on to add:
‘When I took to the place, I found it a rubbish-hole – as I have some other places before – but this enabled an interesting cave and dropping-well to be formed in Pulhamite rock – the former in the bank, for a shady summer seat, and though built up to close it, is quite dry, great care being taken in construction to exclude all damp from passing into the wall, which generally makes such places damp and uninviting to sit in.’
The fernery was quite often written about in gardening magazines. Old photographs are not easy to come by, however, and the only one located so far accompanied an article in the 22nd October 1881 edition of The Garden. It is reproduced here as Fig 3.2.
Fig 3.2 – The Danesbury Fernery – reproduced from ‘The Garden’ of 22nd October 1881
Even W Robinson, one of the most eminent gardening authorities of Victorian times, writes in his book, ‘The English Flower Garden,’ published in 1883;
‘In the home counties there is probably not a better fernery than at Danesbury. It is on a sloping bank in a rather deep dell, overhung with trees and Ivy, in the shade of which the ferns delight.’
One problem that had to be overcome was getting a supply of water to the fernery, and this was apparently achieved by sinking an overflow tank into the ground at the top of the rockwork, just to the left of the grotto in the pictures. The tank was slightly tilted so that, when it was filled with rain, the water flowed down over the rocks and plants beneath. No rain – no water, but it was an easy way of ensuring that it was directed to the plants that needed it most . . .
But all that was nearly 150 years ago. Mr Parsons died in 1880, and the Blake family moved away in 1902, so, bearing in mind that the fernery is situated some way from the house, it is unlikely that anyone bothered about it after that time. Sadly, all that remains for visitors to admire today is a sadly overgrown – and rather incongruous – rock structure set into an old chalk pit in the middle of a field. The picture in Fig 3.3 was taken during a visit in 2000, and the hint of a shadow of a face in the rock on the right is almost a Pulham hallmark - there are several similar ‘faces’ to be seen in other Pulham locations.
Fig 3.3 – The Current State of the Danesbury Fernery
1866 – Bedwell Park
In the previous Section of this series, reference was made to the rose garden, fountain and conservatory constructed by Pulhams for Mr Robert Hanbury, at Poles Park, near Ware, in 1865. Mr Hanbury’s eldest surviving son – also named Robert – lived nearby at Bedwell Park, near Hertford, and he must have been impressed with what James 2 did for his father, because he commissioned him the following year to construct a ‘Fernery, and cliffs to hide walled garden’
One can imagine Mr Hanbury’s problem. There he was, sitting in his magnificent dining room after a hearty lunch, looking across his beautifully manicured gardens towards his tennis court, and what does he see? A plain wall, surrounding his kitchen garden, about 50 yards long, and 12-15ft high! That wouldn’t do at all – he wanted to replace this with ‘naturalistic’ cliffs, complete with planting pockets and a small fernery tucked away somewhere, and James Pulham was just the man to build it for him.
One can get an idea of this dilemma from Fig 3.4, which shows Pulham’s ‘cliffs’ along the outside of the kitchen garden wall at Bedwell – the top of the wall is just visible above the cliffs. Thankfully, they are surprisingly well maintained, and the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust has now had it registered as a Protected Site.
Fig 3.4 – Pulhamite ‘cliffs’ along the outside of the Kitchen Garden wall at Bedwell Park, near Hertford
1871 – High Leigh, Hoddesdon
The next site in this Section is in Hoddesdon – almost on the Pulhams’ doorstep. The house at High Leigh used to be the home of Robert Barclay, of the famous banking family, whose distant ancestors were the French family of de Berchelai, who first came to England at the time of Norman the Conqueror.
Robert Barclay bought High Leigh in 1871, and, as was so often the case, decided soon afterwards to enlarge it, and extend and improve the gardens. Part of these improvements involved James 2, who notes in his promotional booklet that he constructed ‘Pulhamite rockwork, cave, grotto, cascade, and a pathway across water’. This is by no means one of his largest creations, but it is nevertheless interesting because it presents several typical Pulham features within a comparatively small area. In view of its close proximity to the Pulham headquarters in Broxbourne, one could even imagine it being used in its early days as a sort of local showplace, where James 2 could arrange to present a range of his work to potential clients
Immediately behind the house, Robert Barclay constructed avenues and a parterre, with a fountain in the centre. This has all the signs of being by Pulham, although he only left very scant records of where these installations were, so it is impossible to be absolutely certain about this.
a) c1900 (Photo reproduced by permission of High Leigh Archives)
b) As it is Today
Fig 3.5 – The waterfall and cascade at High Leigh
No doubt about the rock garden, though, which runs along a small valley at the edge of the estate. An old photograph of the rockery, waterfall and grotto, taken c1900, is shown here as Fig 3.5a, with the 21st century comparison, in Fig 3.5b.
Fig 3.6 – The Folly arch at High Leigh
The stream runs along to the right from the point shown here, and under what used to be a rustic bridge into a small artificial lake. The water was only circulated on special occasions, by a pump situated just above the top level of the waterfall, drawing water up from the lake. It was powered by a donkey walking round and round a sunken chamber, and James 2 even went to the trouble of rusticating the entrance of this chamber with rockwork in his own inimitable style. Returning to the house from the bridge over the stream, one encounters another of Pulham’s hallmarks – a charming arch folly, shown in Fig 3.6. More about that in a moment.
My initial reaction to this site was one of slight disappointment, because the special Pulham features were considerably overgrown at the time. There is, however, a good reason for this, because High Leigh is now a Conference Centre run by the Christian Conference Trust. The accent is consequently far more on economically priced conference activities than it is on garden maintenance, and , as a registered charity, all operating profits - such as they are - have to be channelled primarily into the provision and extension of accommodation. This consequently makes it extremely difficult to find money for the provision of the labour that would be required to bring this rockwork feature back into working life.
1880 – Ware Park
The final site in this Section is a few miles up the road from Hoddesdon - in Ware Park, near Hertford. There is a fascinating small garden here that also comes under the general heading of ‘small, private Pulham jobs’. This is one of those sites that may well have remained unnoticed, had it not been for the vigilance of Anne Rowe, Secretary of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust, who was doing some research into the area when she happened to notice some ‘rock ruins’ buried in the undergrowth of some private property near to where she was working.
The present owners – who had only recently moved into their new home in the grounds of the old Ware Park Manor – confirmed that they had indeed found some old rockwork ruins in the grounds. In fact, they were very pleased to receive an enquiry, because they had been intrigued and puzzled about its origins since they first discovered it.
The history of Ware Park goes back to the days of William the Conqueror, and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but that’s another story. Of concern here is that the estate eventually passed into the hands of William Parker JP, sometime around 1870. It was a lucky buy, because, in a speech made by him in 1871, he referred to a ‘large Hertfordshire diamond’ that he had found in Ware Park, valued at £333,000!
His luck didn’t last forever, though, because the house was seriously damaged by fire c1875, and again in 1912, when the interior was practically gutted, but this latter damage was covered by insurance, and William Parker rebuilt the house – only to sell it in lots by auction in 1919.
The prospectus for this sale reveals that, at that time, the estate had:
‘. . pleasure grounds and gardens surrounding the house, with lawns, cedar trees, a sunken rose garden on the centre lawn, a tennis lawn, and a summerhouse surrounded by rock garden.’
It also had a:
‘. . walled kitchen garden planted with apples, nectarines, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, cherries and figs. There were greenhouses, garages and stabling, including a farmery and cattle yard.’
These all point to the likely involvement of James Pulham, although it is difficult to ascribe a precise date to their construction, in view of the absence of any available records later than 1877. The most obvious suggestion would be sometime around the time when William Parker was rebuilding or refurbishing his house after a fire, but that still leaves two possibilities – the first of which occurred c1875, and the second in 1912.
The house had to be rebuilt, and was also extended after the 1875 incident, so it is quite possible that he also spent money on the grounds at that time – hence our suggested date of 1880. It is also possible, however, that this work was not done until after the apparently more extensive fire of 1912, when Mr Parker had some insurance money to play with. This is indeed a possibility, although one or two of the features on display point slightly in favour of the earlier date.
The current owners had not lived there long at the time of my visit, and were only just beginning to explore the heavily overgrown area of land beyond the immediate perimeter of their home. There were no signs of the sunken rose garden on the centre lawn, described in the 1919 Sale Prospectus, but it didn’t take long to find the remains of the summerhouse and rock garden. There are some typical Pulhamite ‘cliffs’ near the tennis courts, and the Summerhouse is a little further on. This is now in a very dilapidated condition, as one can see from Fig 3.7. The roof has now almost completely gone, and is covered by a tarpaulin, but one can also see very clearly how the structure is basically brick-built, and covered by the well tested ‘old stone’ cement cladding.
Fig 3.7 – The Summerhouse at Ware Park
There is a small pool nearby, and, although it is now completely silted up and overgrown, its source of water is still there for all to see. There is a lion’s-head outlet to a pipe that runs from the small artificial lake – the source of which is not known – a short way up the hill. Another interesting feature on the way up the slope towards the lake was the remains of what had obviously been at one time a tiny chapel, although, here again, it is now not much more than a ruin.
On the way back to the house, we were introduced to yet another feature, and, this time, there are no prizes for recognising where we had seen something like this before. It was a ruined arch folly, standing all on its own amid the trees, and shown here as Fig 3.8.
This brings this short review of some of Pulham’s early ferneries and rock gardens in Hertfordshire to a close. Most of them are now in need of plenty of loving care and attention if they are to be restored to their former glory, but all is certainly not lost. At least the owners are aware of what they have, and of their responsibilities to our gardening heritage, so they are sure to do their best. The fourth, and final, Section of this series features two outstanding examples of Pulhams’ gardens, created around the turn of the 20th century, that still survive in very commendable condition.
Fig 3.8 – The ruined arch folly at Ware Park
In the meantime, 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 6QA; telephone 01707 323391, or e-mail claude@hitching.net. There may well be a possibility that you know of a previously unrecorded Pulham site – of which the rock garden at Ware Park was one – in which case I shall be particularly interested to hear from you.
