Pulhamite

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title: "Pulhamite" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["building-stone", "architectural-history", "rock-formations", "victorian-architecture", "gardening-in-england"] description: "Material simulating natural stone" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulhamite" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Material simulating natural stone ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Waterfall_in_Albion_Place_Gardens,_Ramsgate-geograph-4572203.jpg" caption="Waterfall in Albion Place Gardens, Ramsgate"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Grand_Cascade,_Sheffield_Park_Garden-5120968338.jpg" caption="Pulham Falls, Sheffield Park Garden"] ::

Pulhamite was a patented anthropic rock material invented by James Pulham (1820–1898) of the firm James Pulham and Son of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. It was widely used for rock gardens and grottos.

Overview

Pulhamite, which usually looked like gritty sandstone, was used to join natural rocks together or crafted to simulate natural stone features. It was so realistic that it fooled some geologists of the era. The recipe went to the grave with the inventor. Modern analysis of surviving original Pulhamite has shown it to be a blend of sand, Portland cement and clinker sculpted over a core of rubble and crushed bricks. It can be viewed in these places:

• Dane Park, Margate
• Neo-Norman gatehouse and folly at Benington Lordship in Hertfordshire
• Rockery, Burslem Park
• Cascade and Rock Garden, Ramsgate,
• Courtstairs Chine, Ramsgate,
• Garden Folly, Sydenham Hill Wood, Sydenham, London.
• Grottoes at Dewstow Gardens, South Wales
• Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells
• Felixstowe Spa and Winter Garden, Suffolk
• Fernery and waterfall, Bromley Palace Park, Bromley
• Grotto, Wotton House, Surrey
• Water course and pump tower, The Dell, Englefield Green
• Henley Hall, Shropshire
• Lake and rockery, Milton Mount Gardens, Crawley
• Leonardslee, rockery in Grade I listed garden at Lower Beeding, West Sussex, England.
• Newstead Abbey fernery, Nottinghamshire
• Rock Cliff, Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk
• Water Garden, Highnam Court, Gloucester
• Zig-zag Path, Lower Leas Coastal Park, Folkestone
• Rosshall Park, Glasgow
• Gardens at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire
• Heythrop Park, Oxfordshire
• Fernery at Danesbury Park, Hertfordshire.
• Waterfall at Battersea Park, London.
• Madresfield Court and gardens, Worcestershire
• Gardens at Coombe Wood, Croydon.
• Artifical stone mouldings in West Hyde church, Hertfordshire.
• Colney Hall near Norwich
• Cliffs at North Shore, Blackpool
• Former Terraced Gardens, Rivington, Lancashire.

Gallery

File:Pulhamite Cliff Walk at Bawdsey Manor-geograph-2346581.jpg|Pulhamite cliff walk at Bawdsey Manor File:Sydenham Woods - a folly-geograph-2208729-by-Brian-Whittle.jpg|Remnants of a folly ruin in Sydenham Hill Wood File:Pulham rocks in the Water Garden at Waddesdon Manor estate.jpg|Pulham rocks in the Water Garden at Waddesdon Manor estate File:Folkestone, Leas Cliff Zig-Zag-Path-geograph-2285893-by-Helmut-Zozmann.jpg|Zig-zag Path in Folkestone File:Pulhamite grotto at Wotton House.jpg|Pulhamite grotto at Wotton House, Surrey

References

References

1. Marion Harney. (2014). "Gardens and Landscapes in Historic Building Conservation". John Wiley & Sons.
2. "The Pulham Legacy".
3. James Stevens Curl and Susan Wilson. (2015). "The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture". Oxford University Press.
4. [[Margate]]
5. "Rock Gardens and Cascade, Ramsgate".
6. "Courtstairs Chine, Ramsgate".
7. (2013). "History of Dunorlan Park".
8. {{NHLE
9. "Pulhamite Fernery, Bromley Palace Park, Bromley".
10. "Pulhamite Waterfall in Bromley Palace Park, Bromley".
11. "Pulhamite Rock Islet in Lake at Milton Mount Gardens (Former Worth Park), Crawley".
12. "Pulhamite Rockery at Milton Mount Gardens (Former Worth Park Gardens), Crawley".
13. (July 2022). "Starting a colourful new chapter". The Garden.
14. (2012). "About Newstead Abbey".
15. "Bawdsey Manor Pulhamite Cliff Structures, Bawdsey".
16. "Pulhamite Water Garden".
17. "Pulhamite Caves, Folkestone".
18. "Explore the gardens - Waddesdon Manor". Waddesdon Manor.
19. [https://democracy.blackpool.gov.uk/documents/s49453/Appendix%20A%20Cabin%20Lift.pdf Unknown]{{Dead link. (April 2025)
20. (13 April 2021). "1903 – Rivington, Lever Park, Lancashire Pulham's Rivington Ravine… and more!".
21. [https://thefollyflaneuse.com/the-ruins-sydenham-hill-london/ The Ruins, Sydenham Hill, London] by Folly Flâneuse, 5 May 2023, retrieved 14 January 2026

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