Useful Information
History
Kelways has a long and distinguished history. The nursery was founded on 1st May 1851 by James Kelway, so this year we celebrate our 160th anniversary.
James was born in 1815, and became a gardener like his father, William. At the age of 18 James was appointed as Head Gardener on the Dillington estate, near Ilminster, which was being revamped by its new owner, James Lee Lee. Over the next 17 years James learned not only how to manage a large garden, but also took advantage of the walled gardens and large greenhouses to develop his love of hybridising new varieties of plants.
When he moved to Langport in 1851 he was already an experienced horticulturist. He started with a piece of land of less than two acres, but over the next fifty years he built up a nursery business with over 200 acres of its own, and many more leased from local farmers. He established Kelways with a world wide reputation for both vegetables and flowers. His first love was the gladiolus, but he also worked on other herbaceous plants such as delphiniums, pyrethrums, and of course peonies, which were to become Kelways’ flagship product.
His son William and grandson James continued his work into the 20th century, and although the business was hard hit by the two world wars, it has survived and thrived to this day.
A customer wrote to Kelways as the Second World War was coming to an end: ‘A thousand thanks for the lovely plants. The old song says “There will always be an England”. My best wish is that there will always be a Kelways at Langport’.
We are proud to be part of the Kelways tradition at Langport. To mark the anniversary, we have produced the first official history of Kelways, which was launched at the Chelsea Flower Show. Written by our own official historian, Janet Seaton, ‘Kelway’s Glorious’: the history of a pioneering Somerset nursery, is now available from this website.