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About Us

H Pigney & Son was founded back in 1824 in the Eden Valley originally starting out as Blacksmiths. The family business has continued to grow and evolve within the local farming community from shoeing horses in the 19th & 20th century to now selling and servicing agricultural machinery, as tractors and machinery replaced horse power. Still to this day we are a fully independent family-owned business and in the last 50 years have expanded to serve the Horticultural and Forestry industries, as well as having accompanying Petrol Pumps and a Hardware & Ironmongery store.

Since moving to our current premises in the centre of Appleby back in 1961 we now have a fully stocked showroom of Garden Machinery, Agricultural stores, a proper old fashioned attended fuel station and the Tardis that is our extensively stocked Hardware & Ironmongery Shop! In 2002 we built a purpose built warehouse on the outskirts of Appleby to house our growing range of Agricultural Machinery.

Now in the 8th generation, the family firm still runs strong – your traditional store with modern values. Generations of the farming community and public have relied upon our products, services and unparalleled knowledge throughout the years. We have built your one stop shop and pride ourselves upon giving our customers the full experience from knowledgeable sales to quality services and repairs. We constantly try our utmost to get the most comprehensive selection of necessities under one roof – pop to pigneys for an odd screw, electric kettle, a bag of compost, a key cut or a robotic lawnmower and walk out with a tractor!! However if you can’t find what your after please don’t hesitate to ask, with a number of long standing links to dedicated suppliers we will do our best to facilitate your request.

Community

We have strong links within the local farming community and we endeavour to support many of our local agricultural shows as we can.
We proudly support Eden Valley Young Farmers and Cumbria YFC.

Penrith Auction Mart

We have a small unit at Penrith Auction Mart and we try to have a sales representative present when the larger sales are on. We hold a small amount of farming supplies in the shop but please contact us if you are wanting to make a collection from the shop or are wanting to speak to a sales representative.

Timeline

1824
January 1

1824

1824
Records show the Pigney family business goes back to 1824, and potentially even further but with no evidence! At this time the blacksmiths would be run by John Pigney (43 years old)
1842
January 1

1842

1842

John’s Son Nicholas Pigney is mentioned as the blacksmith at King Meaburn in this book, other articles also mention the village of Newby as previous premises.

1856
January 1

1856

1856

Our earliest records of one of our daybooks

1871
May 4

1871

1871

Nicholas’ grandson, also called Nicholas, was born, who was to carry on the family business

1886
May 4

1886

1886

‘First of its kind’ invention to be used by us in our Crosby Ravensworth premise and a water bill for only £1 per annum!

1891
May 4

1891

1891

Nicholas – the 4th family member to take over our blacksmiths business still worked out of The Smithy – Kings Meaburn. Primarily shoeing horses and serving the local farming community in the Eden Valley

1902
May 4

1902

1902

Nicholas’ 4th child Henry was born

1903
May 4

1903

1903

We were then known as ‘N Pigney’

1917
May 4

1917

1917

Our day book from 1917 has stood the test of time

1931
May 5

1931

1931

Henry joined the business and ran our Crosby Ravensworth premise.

1932
May 5

1932

1932

Now ‘N Pigney & Son’, we started to diversify as farming evolved. Our invoice header says ‘Agricultural Implement Makers and Dealers, Shoeing & General Smiths’

1934
May 5

1934

1934

We even sold fuel back in 1934

1947
May 5

1947

1947

Henry moved ‘H Pigney’ to Howgate Foot, Appleby

May 5

1947-1960

1947-1960

Transitioned from being blacksmiths to become Agricultural Engineers as tractors and machinery replaced horse power

1950
May 5

1950

1950

Henry’s Son Maurice came into the business and we became ‘H Pigney & Son’ as we are still known today. Here we are supporting our local Appleby Show, then held on the now football field.

May 5

1950

1950

Here we have Henry in the centre of the picture, now the ‘H’ in H Pigney & Son

1958
May 5

1958

1958

Operating from Appleby, here’s a workshop invoice to a local farmer for his repairs for the month of October 1958

1961
May 5

1961

1961

We moved into our current premise Chapel Street, Appleby

1972
May 5

1972

1972

St Lawrence’s Church School was bought to accommodate our horticultural showroom and agricultural stores.

1981
May 5

1981

1981

Maurice and his wife Ena bought the old Kingdom Hall next to the Agricultural Stores and our Hardware & ironmongery shop was born – a natural development to support our engineering workshop

1984
May 5

1984

1984

The earliest records of our Hardware shop daybook

1990
May 5

1990

1990

We have always loved supporting our local agricultural shows and providing hospitality and a bit of craic for our customers. This one being at Dufton Show

1995
May 5

1995

1995

The official opening of our lawnmower showroom and public stores area

1997
May 5

1997

1997

Maurice’s Son David took over the family business along with his sister Margaret

1999
May 5

1999

1999

Suzuki was the main ATV franchise and Same the main Tractor franchise at the time

2002
May 5

2005

2005

The Official opening of our purpose built Machinery Warehouse

2007
May 5

2007

2007

The Pigney family & friends took part in Appleby Carnival on our wagon

2015
May 5

2015

2015

Storm Desmond put our premise under 6ft of water in parts, causing a massive sort out and rethink for the premises and future of the business

2017
May 5

2017

2017

The re-design & expansion of the hardware shop, agricultural showroom and agricultural stores was complete

2018
May 5

2018

2018

We became dealers for Kubota and held a successful Open Evening & Machinery Show at our warehouse premises

2020
May 5

2020

2020

The survival of COVID19 and new fully integrated EPOS system!

2023
May 1

2023

2023

Now in the 8th generation Anna, Chris & Isaac now all have roles within the business

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