Lead Planters by Bromsgrove Garden Ornaments
Discover our lead planters and garden ornaments – landscape and architectural centrepieces that will deliver beauty and serenity for generations. They add a sense of elegant permanence to your garden, landscape, or achitectectural project. The presence of our planters is comparable to that of mature trees and ancient stone walls; a classical yet contemporary presence unmatched by any other material such as manufactured stone or cast iron.
Discover the Beauty of our Lead Planters
Lead planters and other lead garden ornaments first gained popularity in the English gardens of the 17th and 18th centuries. The formal gardens of this time required large amounts of lead planters, urns and statuary. Lead became the material of choice as an alternative to hand-carved stone.
Prior to this, lead had been widely used in architectural applications, including roofing and rainwater management. Ornamental baptismal fonts and cisterns for rainwater collection had been made of lead, and are still in use many hundreds of years later.
In the nineteenth century, the structured formal gardens of earlier times gave way to more natural parks in which there was little need for ornamentation. However, lead ornamentation saw a revival mid-century which lasted through the Arts and Crafts movement. The original Bromsgrove Guild was renowned for its lead planters and other fine products.


Lead Planters and their patina…
Several characteristics of lead make it an ideal material for garden ornamentation. Primary among these is its silvery-grey patina. This colour develops naturally as the material is exposed to the elements. Once formed, the patina is stable, protecting the material from corrosion and preventing it from leaching. Many renowned garden designers of the past praised the colour of lead.
“Lead, if left to the kindly touch of wind and rain, will weather in silvery patches that accord better than anything else with green surroundings.” -Lutyens 1915
Lead is timeless. It lasts forever. Lead pipes made by the Romans are occasionally found that are over 2000 years old. Our ornaments require no maintenance and are immune to even the harshest natural environments including salt water.
The toxicity of lead has been known for centuries. But its “harmful effects do not occur if an organism is isolated from the metal or if the metal is not bioavailable.” Lead ornaments present no hazard in the garden.