Pulhamite Waterfall In Bromley Palace Park

The Pulhamite waterfall is an artificial rockwork feature dating to circa 1865, created by the firm of Pulhams, garden contractors. It is located within Bromley Palace Park, originally part of the former bishop's palace.

The waterfall consists of a linear mass of Pulhamite rockwork, measuring approximately 15 meters across and 5 meters deep. Individual rocks reach over a cubic meter in size. The rockwork is situated within a dam at the south end of the lake, with a central cleft from which water once cascaded into a basin at its base. The exterior finish of the rockwork is a brown, sandy color; in some areas, this skin has broken away, revealing the underlying core of scrap brickwork bound with cement.

'Pulhamite' rockwork was developed by James Pulham (circa 1820-98), using a cement-based process with clinker and scrap brickwork moulded into boulder-like forms and finished to resemble natural rock. After boundary changes in 1845, Bromley Palace was occupied by Coles Child, a coal merchant, who extended the house in 1863 with Richard Norman Shaw as architect. Between 1860 and 1865, Pulham was commissioned to create a fernery and waterfall within the grounds. This waterfall is located at the south end of the lake.

The waterfall is notable as a well-preserved example of mid-19th century Pulhamite rockwork, set within a similarly well-maintained landscape setting at the end of a lake and surrounded by trees.