Fulham Palace

Fulham Palace

Fulham Palace in Fulham, London (formerly in Middlesex), England, at one time the main residence of the Bishop of London, is of medieval origin.

History

During the extensive restorations from 2001–06, excavations on the grounds of Fulham Palace have revealed the remains of several former large scale buildings and even evidence of Neolithic and Roman settlements.

The second phase of works will be subject to the success of a future bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Habitation on the land on which Fulham Palace now stands can be traced back historically as early as 700 AD, when ownership passed to Waldhere, Bishop of London. The estate was owned by the Bishops of London for over 1300 years and the Palace was their country home from at least the 11th century, and their main residence from the eighteenth century until 1975.

The Palace is now managed jointly by Hammersmith and Fulham Council and the Fulham Palace Trust, though it is still owned by the Church of England.

Part of the Palace grounds were converted in allotments during World War II and they have remained in use since then allowing local people to grow their own vegetables, fruit and flowers.

Although the Palace has its own chapel, the gardens adjoin the churchyard of the neighbouring parish church, All Saints Church, Fulham, where several former bishops are buried.

Gardens

During the 17th century, Bishop Compton imported several new plant species to the gardens at Fulham Palace and first cultivated some flora found in Britain today, including the American magnolia, "M. virginiana", "Liriodendron", "Liquidambar" and the first American azalea grown in England, "Rhododendron viscosum". ["Hortus Kewensis" credits Bishop Compton with some forty introductions, two-thirds of them hardy trees and shrubs (Alice M. Coats, "The Hon. and Rev. Henry Compton, Lord Bishop of London" "Garden History" 4.3 (Autumn, 1976:14-20) p. 18] and in his heated "stoves" he grew the first coffee tree in England. The red horse chestnut, a hybrid of "Aesculus hippocastanum" and the American "Aesculus pavia", was still noted in Fulham Palace gardens as late as 1751. In spite of the depredations of Henry Compton's successor, some of the trees in and around Fulham Palace remain from this time, and visitors can still see the herb garden and wisteria which survive in the Palace's walled gardens.

Henry Compton was ordained Bishop of London in 1675 and by 1681 the gardens at Fulham Palace were already remarkable, as John Evelyn noted when he visited them. [Coats 1976:14.] Bishop Compton's gardener in the early years was George London, who started his famous nursery at Brompton the year of Evelyn's visit. By 1686 William Penn's gardener was hoping to exchange the exotic flora of Pennsylvania for seedlings and slips of trees and shrubs and seeds from Fulham Palace gardens. [Coats 1976:14.] His staunch defense of his former pupils the Princesses Mary and Anne, led to his appointment as Deputy Superintendent of the Royal Gardens to William and Mary, and a Commissioner for Trade and Plantations. In the colonies, he had a botanical correspondent in John Bannister, who was sent first to the West Indies and then to Virginia, and who, before his untimely death, sent Bishop Compton drawings, seeds, and herbarium specimens from which the Bishop's close friend John Ray compiled the first published account of North American flora, in his "Historia Plantarum" (1688).

The grounds originally covered more than 30 acres, though only 12 acres remain the property of the Palace. The Palace also boasts the longest moat in England.

Museum

The Museum of Fulham Palace partially occupies Bishop Howley's Dining Room and the Porteus Library (named after Bishop Beilby Porteus, 1731–1809), in the early 19th century part of the Palace. It contains some of the paintings that once hung in the building, stained glass, carved fragments of masonry and the bishop's cope, as well as displays describing the Palace's history.

The lost manuscript of William Bradford’s "Of Plymouth Plantation" (1620–47), an important founding document of the United States, was discovered in the library in 1855 and first published the next year. No one knows how it made its way there from America, but in 1897, through the efforts of U.S. Senator George Frisbie Hoar, it was repatriated to New England.

Contemporary Art Gallery

Fulham Palace also has a Contemporary Art Gallery (Fulham Palace Gallery), displaying work related to its grounds and history.

Visitor access

Admission to the Palace and its grounds is free of charge. The grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk.

A cafe has been opened in Bishop Howley's Drawing Rooms.

The Palace is accessed from Fulham Palace Road close to the northern end of Putney Bridge.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.fulhampalace.org/ Official website]
* [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=201787&mode=quick Images of England page with listing details]


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