Pulhamite was a patented anthropic rock material invented by James Pulham (1820-1898) of the firm James Pulham and Son of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.
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.
James Pulham and Son was founded by James Pulham (1793-1838) of Woodbridge in Suffolk , who was succeeded by his eldest son James (1820-1898) and then by two more generations of eldest sons, both also named James.
The firm went out of business in 1939.
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 Warrent by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and some of their work survives at Sandringham House and Buckingham Palace.
At the Great Exhibition of 1862, the firm exhibited the upper section of the Hebe Fountain, surmounted by a portrayal of Hebe, daughter of Zeus. James Pullham II (the son) received a recommendation for the architectural decoration in terracotta. The fountain is now at Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells.