Local History Now, Mrs Steve is the gardener in our family, so I dedicate this column to her. She has a greenhouse where she grows from seed and she knows her pansies and petunias from her peonies. This one’s for you love. Stewart rts t has a place in history ryy as the first purpose-built garden centre in the UK (1961).
Artist’s impression of Stewarts ‘Garden Lands’ (as it was first known) when it opened in October ’61. Drawing by Bill Chitty, a local Christchurch artist.
The front pond at Stewarts. There was no front fence for the first 30 years!
It’s still there, in the same location, on the Lyndhurst Road, next to Sainsbury ry’s. y The firm’s history ryy goes back much furt rther t than that, although the current MD, Mart rtin t Stewart rtt (since 1982), is quick to point out that a history ryy doesn’t guarantee a future, so Stewart rts t has to continue to move with the times. What about that history ryy though?
We can actually trace the company back to Mart rtin’s t Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Charles Stewart rtt (although the family genealogy gyy has been recorded much furt rther t back to Mary ryy Queen of Scots and even Robert rtt the Bruce). A plantsman in 18th century ryy Scotland, Charles had first start rted t planting forestry ryy trees as early as 1742, just a few years before the last of the Jacobite Rebellions (led by another Charles Stuart rt, t or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’). The business was continued by Charles’ eldest son, John, but it was with John’s two sons, William and David, that the move south of the border occurred, with younger brother David (Mart rtin’s t Great Grandfather) establishing a branch nursery ryy in Ferndown (1864), the choice of Dorset being very ryy deliberate because of the mild climate, whilst William focused on the Scottish holdings. The Stewart rts t then lobbied for a railway station at West Moors to help with its distribution, which duly opened in 1867. David’s four sons, including Mart rtin’s t Grandfather, A.F. Mart rtin t Stewart rt, t continued the family business, with major landscaping projects being undert rtaken, t including Ferndown Golf Course, whilst the business maintained its Ferndown base right through to the 1950s, when it vacated in favour of Broomhill.
Stewarts
A.F. (Andrew Fothergill) Martin Stewart, grandfather of the current MD.
It was Edward (‘Ted’) Stewart rt, t a flyer and WW2 WW W veteran, and father to Mart rtin, t who orchestrated the firm’s recovery ryy aft fter t the war, and introduced container-grown stock into the UK at this time, which transformed Stewart rts t into an all-year round business. It was on a visit to Toronto that Edward caught a glimpse of the future, the ‘garden centre’, and his first attempt was at Ferndown (1955), by adapting existing buildings. This was the forerunner of the very ryy first purpose-built garden centre in the UK, the Stewart rts t we see today, in Christchurch, which opened in October 1961, with the ceremonies perf rformed f by TV V gardener Percy Thrower, who became a close friend of Ted.
The famous TV gardener Percy Thrower signs books at the opening of Stewarts Christchurch, October ’61.