James Pulham and Son

From WikiProjectMed
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Pulhamite and Terracotta Fountain in Dunorlan Park
Tomb of William Mulready in Kensal Green Cemetery
Detail of a folly at Benington Lordship, Hertfordshire. Bricks can be seen beneath the artificial stone[1]

James Pulham and Son was a firm of Victorian landscape gardeners and terracotta manufacturers which exhibited and won medals at London's Great Exhibition of 1851 and 1862 International Exhibition.[2]

History

James Pulham and Son was founded by James Pulham (1765-1830) of Woodbridge in Suffolk, then succeeded by his son James (1793โ€“1838) who was succeeded by his eldest son James (1820โ€“1898) and then by two further generations of eldest sons, all named James. The firm went out of business in 1939.[3]

The firm was best known for the construction of rock gardens, follies and grottoes using both natural stone and their own invention, Pulhamite artificial rock. Pulham and Son also manufactured a wide range of terracotta and Pulhamite garden ornaments, originally at their works in Tottenham, but after 1840 at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. In 1895 the firm was granted a Royal Warrant by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and some of their work survives at Sandringham House and Buckingham Palace.[2]

At the Great Exhibition of 1862, the firm exhibited the upper section of the Hebe Fountain, surmounted by a portrayal of the Greek goddess Hebe. James Pullham II (the son) received a recommendation for the architectural decoration in terracotta. The fountain is now at Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells.[4]

At the 1867 Paris Exhibition the company showed the "Preston vase" (several of which were made for the People's Park, Preston), and the Mulready monument.[5] The latter, modelled by Godfrey Sykes[2] consisted of a pedestal 15 feet long and 10 feet wide, supporting an effigy, seven feet long, on a raised bier. It won a silver medal at the exhibition, and was installed at Kensal Green cemetery on its return from Paris.[5]

Works

  • Statues on the Freemasons lodge (The Castle) at Woodridge (1814)
  • Statue of Old Father Time on the "Little Castle" at Woodridge (1816)
  • Facade of the Female Orphan Asylum at Tottenham
  • Bull carving for the "Black Bull Inn" in Holborn
  • Bust of Alfred the Great (1825)
  • Bust of William Penn (1825)
  • Garden layout at Highnam Court

References

  1. ^ Benington Lordship, Historic Houses, London, retrieved 25 July 2023
  2. ^ a b c "James Pulham & Son - Parks and Gardens UK". Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  3. ^ Hitching, Claude. "Pulham Legacy". www.pulham.org. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  4. ^ Pulham.org article on the fountain
  5. ^ a b Jewitt, Llewellyn (1878). The Ceramic Art of Great Britain. Vol. 1. London: Virtue & Co. pp. 428โ€“31. Retrieved 21 October 2011.

External links

Media related to James Pulham and Son at Wikimedia Commons