Fulham Palace

Origins

Excavations of the grounds, by the Fulham Archaeological Rescue Group in 1972-3 and during the extensive restorations from 2001–06, revealed the remains of several former large buildings and evidence of Neolithic and Roman settlements. Artefacts that have been recovered include a 1st-century, Gladius Hispanus sword which is currently in the British Museum.

The palace has been a residence of the bishops of London since about 700 AD; its first episcopal owner was either Bishop Erkenwald (675-693)^[5] or Bishop Waldhere (consecrated in 693).^[6] The estate was owned by the Bishops of London for over 1300 years. The palace was their country home from at least the 11th century and their main residence from the early 20th century until 1973.^[7]

The current building dates from the reign of Henry VII (1485–1509). It was constructed by Bishop Richard FitzJames (1506–1522).^[5] There have been many modifications of the building: the west courtyard is Tudor; the east courtyard is Georgian, the great hall is late-medieval; the eastern end of the building was renovated in Gothic style in the late 18th century; the east courtyard was classicised in the early 19th century, and the chapel was added in 1867.^[8]

Fulham Palace is a Grade I listed building standing within a Scheduled Ancient Monument. A number of structures on the property are Grade II listed buildings including the chapel, moat bridge and attached piers, stables, walls of the walled garden, vinery, and bothies.^[8]

The palace gardens

The gardens of Fulham Palace are one of most important botanical gardens since the 16th century. Bishop Grindal (c. 1519 – 1583) built a Tudor walled garden and a series of parterre gardens. He is credited with the introduction of the tamarisk tree to England and grew grapes that were sent to Elizabeth I.^[9]

In the early part of the 17th century, the gardens at Fulham Palace appear to have suffered from some unsympathetic attention. The antiquary John Aubrey records among his memoranda, "the Bishop of London did cutte-down a noble Clowd of trees at Fulham", occasioning the sharp remark from Sir Francis Bacon, a dedicated gardener, "that he was a good Expounder of dark places."^[10] This changed with Bishop Henry Compton (1675–1713) who introduced many new plant species to England in the gardens at Fulham Palace, including the American magnolia, M. virginiana, Liriodendron, Liquidambar and the first American azalea grown in England, Rhododendron viscosum.^[11] 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.

By 1681, the gardens at Fulham Palace were already remarkable, as John Evelyn noted when he visited them.^[12] Bishop Compton's gardener in the early years was George London, who started a 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.^[12] Compton's staunch defence of his former pupils, the Princesses Mary and Anne, led to his appointment as Deputy Superintendent of the Royal Gardens to William III and Mary II, and as Commissioner for Trade and Plantations. In the colonies, Compton 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).^[13]

First World War

In 1918, part of the grounds of the palace was converted into allotments, for growing food to help the war effort. The palace itself was used as a military hospital.^[14] After the war, the church found it increasingly difficult to maintain such a large, expensive building. The Bishop of London at the time, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, offered to give up the palace and live in two rooms as he had while the palace was being used "for the purpose of the National Mission" (the war effort).^[15] However, the bishop was unwilling to let the palace pass into secular hands.^[15]

Second World War

Parts of the palace were damaged by bombing, and after the war the church found it increasingly difficult to maintain this large, expensive historic building. In 1954, the Church Commissioners' architect described the palace as "badly planned and inconvenient".^[16] After many years of indecision the church authorities vacated the palace in 1973.

The palace moat

The palace moat is nearly 1.4 km (0.87 mi) in length. It is the largest domestic moated site in medieval England but its origin is unknown.^[17] The first known reference to the moat was in a 1392 document that refers to magna fossa ('great ditch') but it is thought to be much older.^[18] Its distance from the palace suggests that it might have had a function other than defense. An alternative idea is that it was built by the Danes as a safeguard against flooding by the Thames.^[19] In 1976, the moated enclosure was designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.^[17]

The moat was filled in with debris in the 1920s, at the request of the present Bishop Winnington-Ingram. Despite this, the entire moat still exists, underground, as an unbroken circuit.^[17] In 2010, an excavation of the moat began as part of a £8m renovation of the palace and adjoining Bishops Park.^[18]

Restoration of the palace and grounds

The Fulham Palace Restoration Project began in the 2000s and has been carried out in three phases. The first phase, which was completed in 2006 at a cost of £4 million, restored the east wing of the palace and part of the west wing including the Tudor courtyard.^[8] The second phase, at a cost of £7 million, focused on the walled garden, the outbuildings, and the moat, and was completed in 2011.^[22] The third phase, which will concentrate on the Tudor quadrangle and the botanical gardens, received funding of £1.9 million in December 2016.^[23][24] Funding for all three phases came from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Fulham Palace Trust.^[22][25]