On a recent visit to our son in South Croydon we visited nearby Coombe Wood, the former garden of Coombe Wood House. Prior to opening to the public in 1948, undergrowth clearance revealed a substantial rock garden. However it has since been shown that the rocks are not natural, but made of ‘Pulhamite’, a product created by James Pulham, a well-respected landscape gardener in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Photographs courtesy of Bob Jones