History

 

There can be few Nurseries in the UK, if any other, that can boast a historical pedigree like that of Crowders of Horncastle. In fact it is a history, which can even boast a close connection with Kew Gardens and Captain Cook!

 

 

It was the current owner's great, great, great grandfather, one William Crowder who began the Nursery business in Horncastle in 1798. Interestingly, this was not the family's first foray into the world of horticulture. William's father and his uncle were already involved, the later specialising in rare plants.

 

As William began to expand his business he rented a further four acres of land from Sir Joseph Banks, the well known explorer and plantsman who inherited vast estates in Lincolnshire from his father. His great wealth led to Banks financing Captain Cook's round-the-world voyage on board Endeavour in 1768. This trip was to be one of the most significant journeys in the history of horticulture. Over 2000 species of previously unknown plants were brought back to Europe. Banks, later became president of what is now known as the Royal Horticultural Society and for a time took charge of Kew Gardens in west London.

 

William Crowder was a shrewd businessman and recognised that the recent Enclosure Act would mean a massive demand for Quickthorn hedging plants and it was this new business which launched his successful career.

 

The first Crowders shop was in Horncastle town centre. It was here that William's son Anderson Crowder learnt the retail trade and literally lived above the shop. Anderson lived to the ripe old age of 80, very old for those days, and died in 1873 leaving the business to his son, another William. It was William who bought the Thimbleby Nurseries, the current home of Crowders.

 

 

Sadly William Jnr did not enjoy a similar longevity and passed away just 11 years after his father at the early age of 57. However, his son, William Ashley expanded the thriving business and invested in more land on the opposite side of the Wragby Road at Thimbleby.

 

 

 

 

William Ashley and his wife Ann were blessed with two sons, William Harrison and Robert Ashley, both saw service in the Great War. Sadly Robert was killed on active service in 1917, but his brother rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery and was awarded the DSO before being taken a prisoner of war.

 

The current owner's father, William Ashley Broderick Crowder, was born in 1923 but saw austere times as his father struggled to guide the business through the depression years of the 1920's and 1930's.. Broderick eventually took over the company in 1950 but had to completely re-align the business after the war years had seen the Crowder land utilised for food production and the growing of fruit trees. It was Broderick who began the very successful transition to make Crowders a national name in horticultural wholesale and not just a local one.