Sowing the seeds of a great little company

W Robinson & Son may not be a name which rings a bell with many people. But to those who know their onions (and other vegetables) these Lancashire seedsmen are numbered among the good and the great.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Aug 2010, 15:45 BST
Updated 12th Aug 2010, 15:46 BST

It all began in 1860 when the firm's founder, William Robinson, started his nursery growing a range of crops – from soft fruit, apples, plums and pears, to onions and leeks.

The orchard still has some of the old varieties of fruit planted at that time.

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The next generation of the family, also called William Robinson, started to improve the size of onions and leeks in particular.

By careful selection, only the best specimens were allowed to seed. He started to exhibit the results in the local flower shows winning many prizes, and soon other exhibitors wanted to grow the strain – and the business was born.

He called all his large varieties of vegetable by the prefix Mammoth, a name the company continues to use today.

Now the nursery (run by the fourth generation of the family) maintains a seed bank holding many varieties of unusual vegetables – some grown for their looks, others for their taste.

W Robinson & Son (Seeds & Plants) Ltd, Sunny Bank, Forton, near Preston, Lancs, PR3 0BN. 01524 791210,

e-mail: info@ mammothonion.co.uk

YP MAG 14/8/10

Related topics:LancashirePreston