| Fulham | |
|---|---|
 Fulham Palace, the Grade I listed former residence of theBishop of London | |
  Fulham Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 87,161 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ245765 |
| • Charing Cross | 3.7 mi (6.0 km) ENE |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | SW6, W14, W6 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°28′58″N0°11′42″W / 51.4828°N 0.1950°W /51.4828; -0.1950 | |
Fulham (/ˈfʊləm/) is an area of theLondon Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham inWest London, England, 3.7 miles (6.0 km) southwest ofCharing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of theRiver Thames, borderingHammersmith,Kensington andChelsea, with which it shares the area known asWest Brompton. Over the Thames, Fulham facesWandsworth,Putney, theLondon Wetland Centre inBarnes in theLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames.[2][3]
First recorded by name in 691, it was an extensiveAnglo-Saxon estate, theManor of Fulham, and then a parish. Its domain stretched from modern-dayChiswick in the west toChelsea in the southeast; and fromHarlesden in the northwest toKensal Green in the northeast bordered by the littoral ofCounter's Creek and the Manor of Kensington.[4] It originally included today's Hammersmith. Between 1900 and 1965, it was demarcated as theMetropolitan Borough of Fulham, before its merger with theMetropolitan Borough of Hammersmith to create the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (known as the London Borough of Hammersmith from 1965 to 1979). The district is split between thewestern andsouth-western postal areas.
Fulham industrial history includes pottery, tapestry-weaving, paper-making and brewing in the 17th and 18th centuries inFulham High Street, and later the automotive industry, aviation, food production, and laundries.[5] In the 19th century, there was glass-blowing and this resurged in the 21st century with the Aronson-Noon studio and the former Zest gallery in Rickett Street.Lillie Bridge Depot, a railway engineering depot, opened in 1872, is associated with the building and extension of theLondon Underground, the electrification of Tube lines from the nearbyLots Road Power Station, and for well over a century has been the maintenance hub for rolling stock and track.[6][7]
Two Premier League football clubs,Fulham andChelsea, play in Fulham.[8][9] Two other notable sporting clubs arethe Hurlingham Club, known forpolo, and theQueen's tennis club, known for its annual pre-Wimbledon tennis tournament.[10][11] In the 1800s,Lillie Bridge Grounds hosted the first meetings of theAmateur Athletic Association of England, the secondFA Cup Final, and the first amateur boxing matches.[12] TheLillie Bridge area was the home ground of theMiddlesex County Cricket Club, before it moved toMarylebone.[13]
The word Fulham originates from Old English, with Fulla being a personal name, and hamm being land hemmed in by water or marsh, or a river-meadow. So Fulla's hemmed-in land.[14] It is spelled Fuleham in the 1066Domesday Book.[15]
In recent years, there has been a great revival of interest in Fulham's earliest history, largely due to the Fulham Archaeological Rescue Group. This has carried out a number of digs, particularly in the vicinity of Fulham Palace, which show that approximately 5,000 years agoNeolithic people were living by the riverside and in other parts of the area.[citation needed] Excavations have also revealedRoman settlements during the third and fourth centuries AD.[citation needed]
There are two not necessarily conflicting versions of how Fulham Manor came into the possession of theBishop of London. One states the manor (landholding) of Fulham was granted to BishopErkenwald about the year 691 for himself and his successors as Bishop of London.[16] The alternative has it that The Manor of Fulham was acquired byBishop Waldhere fromBishop Tyrhtel in AD 704.[4] In due course the manor house becameFulham Palace, and for a millennium, the country residence of theBishops of London.
The first written record of a church in Fulham dates from 1154, with the first known parish priest ofAll Saints Church, Fulham appointed in 1242. All Saints Church was enlarged in 1881 by SirArthur Blomfield.[17]
Hammersmith was part of theancient parish of Fulham up until 1834. Prior to that time it had been a perpetual curacy under the parish of Fulham.[18][19] By 1834 it had so many residents, a separate parish with a vicar (no longer a curate) andvestry for works was created. The two areas did not come together again until the commencement of theLondon Government Act in 1965.
The parish boundary with Chelsea and Kensington was formed by the now culvertedCounter's Creek river, the course of which is now occupied by theWest London Line. This parish boundary has been inherited by the modern boroughs ofHammersmith & Fulham andKensington & Chelsea.
In 879Danish invaders sailed up theThames and wintered at Fulham and Hammersmith.Raphael Holinshed (died 1580) wrote that the Bishop of London was lodging in his manor place in 1141 whenGeoffrey de Mandeville, riding out from theTower of London, took him prisoner. During theCommonwealth the manor was temporarily out of the bishops' hands, having been sold to ColonelEdmund Harvey.[citation needed]
In 1642,Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, withdrawing from theBattle of Brentford (1642), ordered to be put abridge of boats on the Thames to unite with his detachment inKingston in pursuit ofCharles I, who orderedPrince Rupert to retreat from Brentford back west.[citation needed] The King and Prince moved their troops from Reading toOxford for the winter. This is thought to have been near the first bridge (which was made of wood). It was commonly named Fulham Bridge, built in 1729 and was replaced in 1886 with Putney Bridge.[citation needed]
Margravine Road recalls the existence ofBrandenburgh House, a riverside mansion built bySir Nicholas Crispe in the time of Charles I, and used as the headquarters ofGeneral Fairfax in 1647 during the civil wars. In 1792 it was occupied byCharles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and his wife, and in 1820 byCaroline, consort ofGeorge IV. His non-political 'wife' wasMaria Fitzherbert who lived in East End House in Parson's Green. They are reputed to have had several children.[20]
The extract below ofJohn Rocque's Map of London, 1746 shows the Parish of Fulham in the loop of theThames, with the boundary with Chelsea, Counter's Creek, narrow and dark, flowing east into the river. The recently built, wooden, first Fulham/Putney bridge is shown and two Fulham village clusters, one central, one south-west.
The 19th century rousedWalham Green village, and the surrounding hamlets that made up the parish of Fulham, from their rural slumber and market gardens with the advent first of power production and then more hesitant transport development.[21] This was accompanied by acceleratingurbanisation, as in other centres in the county of Middlesex, which encouraged trade skills among the growing population.
In 1824 theImperial Gas Light and Coke Company, the first public utility company in the world, bought theSandford estate in Sands End to produce gas for lighting — and in the case of the Hurlingham Club, forballooning.[22] Its ornately decorated number 2gasholder isGeorgian, completed in 1830 and reputed to be the oldest gasholder in the World.[23] In connection with gas property portfolios, in 1843 the newly formed Westminster Cemetery Company had trouble persuading the Equitable Gas people (a future Imperial take-over) to sell them a small portion of land to gain southern access, onto theFulham Road, from their recently laid outBrompton Cemetery, over the parish border in Chelsea. The sale was finally achieved through the intervention of cemetery shareholder and Fulham resident, John Gunter.[24][25]
Meanwhile, another group of local landowners, led byLord Kensington withSir John Scott Lillie and others had conceived, in 1822, the idea of exploiting the water course up-river fromChelsea Creek on their land by turning it into a two-mile canal. It was to have a basin, a lock and wharves, to be known as theKensington Canal, and link theGrand Union Canal with the Thames. In reality, however, the project was over budget and delayed by contractor bankruptcies and only opened in 1828, when railways were already gaining traction.[26] The short-lived canal concept did however leave a legacy: the creation on Lillie's land of a brewery and residential development, 'Rosa', and 'Hermitage Cottages', and several roads, notably, theLillie Road connecting the canal bridge, (Lillie Bridge) atWest Brompton with North End Lane and the eventual creation of two railway lines, theWest London Line and theDistrict line connecting South London with the rest of the capital. This was done with the input of two noted consulting engineers,Robert Stephenson in 1840 and from 1860,Sir John Fowler.[26]
It meant that the area around Lillie Bridge was to make a lasting, if largely unsung, contribution for well over a century to the development and maintenance of public transport in London and beyond. Next to theLillie Bridge engineering Depot, theMidland Railway established its own coal and goods yard.[27]
In 1907 the engineering HQ of thePiccadilly Line in Richmond Place (16-18 Empress Place) oversaw the westward expansion of the line into the suburbs. At the turn of the century, theLondon Omnibus Co in Seagrave Road oversaw the transition of horse-drawn to motor buses, which were eventually integrated intoLondon Transport andLondon Buses. This attracted a host of other automotive enterprises to move into the area.[27]
With the growth of 19th-century transport links into East Fulham and its sporting venues by 'Lillie Bridge', along with the immediately neighbouring 24-acreEarl's Court exhibition grounds, and the vast the Empress Hall (see entertainment section below). During theFirst World War it would become accommodation for Belgian refugees. Meanwhile, the historic hamlet ofNorth End was massively redeveloped in the 1880s by Messrs Gibbs & Flew, who built 1,200 houses on the fields. They had trouble disposing of the properties, so for public relations purposes, they renamed the area 'West Kensington', to refer to the more prosperous neighbourhood over the parish boundary.[28]
The last farm to function in Fulham was Crabtree Farm, which closed at the beginning of the 20th century. A principal recorder of all these changes was a local man,Charles James Féret (1854-1921), who conducted research over a period of decades before publishing his three volume history of Fulham in 1900.[29][30]
Ceramics and weaving in Fulham go back to at least the 17th century, most notably with theFulham Pottery, followed by the establishment of tapestry and carpet production with a branch of the French 'Gobelins manufactory' and then the short-livedParisot weaving school venture in the 1750s.William De Morgan, ceramicist and novelist, moved into Sands End with his painter wife,Evelyn De Morgan, where they lived and worked. Another artist couple, also members of theArts and Crafts movement, lived at 'the Grange' inNorth End,Georgiana Burne-Jones and her husband,Edward Burne-Jones, both couples were friends ofWilliam Morris.
Other artists who settled along theLillie Road, wereFrancesco Bartolozzi, a florentine engraver andBenjamin Rawlinson Faulkner, a society portrait painter.Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, the French expressionist painter and friend ofEzra Pound, lived inWalham Green till his early death in 1915. Glass production was, until recently, represented by thestained glass studio of the purpose-built andGrade II listedGlass House in Lettice Street and latterly, by the Aaronson Noon Studio, with the 'Zest' Gallery in Rickett Street, that was obliged to shut down in 2012, after 20 years by the developers of 'Lillie Square' andEarl's Court. Both glass businesses have now moved out of London.[31][32][33]
The Art Bronze Foundry, founded by Charles Gaskin in 1922 operated in Michael Road, off theNew King's Road, a short distance fromEel Brook Common until it gave way to an apartment redevelopment in 2017. It had produced works byHenry Moore,Elisabeth Frink,Barbara Hepworth andJacob Epstein among others. Its work may be seen in public spaces all over the world.[34]
In 1926, the Church of England established the office ofBishop of Fulham as asuffragan to the Bishop of London.[citation needed]
Fulham remained a predominantly working-class area for the first half of the 20th century, with genteel pockets at North End, along the top of Lillie and New King's roads, especially aroundParsons Green,Eel Brook Common, South Park and the area surrounding theHurlingham Club. Essentially, the area had attracted waves of immigrants from the countryside to service industrialisation and the more privileged parts of the capital.[27]With rapid demographic changes there was poverty, as noted byCharles Dickens (1812-1870) andCharles Booth (1840-1916). Fulham had itspoorhouses, and attracted several benefactors, including: theSamuel Lewis (financier) Housing Trust, thePeabody Trust and theSir Oswald Stoll Foundation to provide low-cost housing.[35]
TheMetropolitan Asylums Board acquired in 1876 a 13-acre site at the bottom of Seagrave Road to build a fever hospital,The Western Hospital, that later became anNHScentre of excellence for treatingpolio until its closure in 1979.[36] Bar one ward block remaining in private occupation, it was replaced by a gated-flats development and a small public space, Brompton Park.[37]
Aside from the centuries-old brewing industry, exemplified by the Swan Brewery on the Thames,[38] the main industrial activities involved motoring and early aviation —Rolls-Royce,Shell-Mex & BP,Rover, theLondon General Omnibus Company — and rail engineering (Lillie Bridge Depot), laundries — the Palace Laundry is still extant — and the building trades.[39] Later there developed distilling, Sir Robert Burnett'sWhite Satin Gin,[40] food processing, e.g. Telfer's Pies, Encafood andSpaghetti House, andKodak's photographic processing. This encouraged the southern stretch ofNorth End Road to become Fulham's unofficial"High street", almost a mile from the actualFulham High Street, with its own department store, F.H. Barbers, along withWoolworths,Marks & Spencer andSainsbury's outlets, all long gone. The second everTesco shop opened in the North End Road. The UK's reputedly oldest independenthealth-food shop, opened in 1966 by theAetherius Society, still trades onFulham Road.
Allied to these developments, thepostwar period saw the extensive demolition of Fulham's early 19th-century architectural stock, replaced by someBrutalist architecture — the current Ibis hotel — and theEmpress State Building in Lillie Road that in 1962 replaced the declining Empress Hall.[citation needed] TheLondon County Council and local council continued with much-needed council-housing development betweenWorld War II and up to the 1980s.[citation needed]
Fulham has undergone significant gentrification since the late 20th century, when professionals and families—drawn by its Victorian housing and riverside setting—began arriving. This early wave of change gained momentum through the 1990s, and by the 2000s Fulham had firmly established itself as one of London’s most desirable Zone 2 neighbourhoods, combining a village‑like character with upgraded housing stock, affluent amenities, and well‑regarded schools.[41][42]
Geoffrey de Havilland, aviation pioneer, built his first aeroplane at his workshop in Bothwell Street, Fulham in 1909.[43] Later, during theFirst World War, Cannon's Brewery site at the corner of Lillie and North End Road was used for aircraft manufacture.[44] TheDarracq Motor Engineering Company of Townmead Road, became aircraft manufacturers in Fulham for theAirco company, producing De Havilland designs and components for the duration of the war.
William Crathern, the composer, was organist at St Mary's Church, West Kensington, when it was still known asNorth End.Edward Elgar, the composer, lived at 51 Avonmore Road, W14, between 1890 and 1891.[45] The notorious Italian tenorGiovanni Matteo Mario de Candia and his wife opera singerGiulia Grisi, made Fulham their home from 1852 until the 1900s at a lovely country-manor where their daughters and son were born, among them writerCecilia Maria de Candia.[46] Conductor and composerHyam Greenbaum married the harpistSidonie Goossens on 26 April 1924 at Kensington Registry Office and they set up home in a first floor flat on the Fulham Road, oppositeMichelin House.[47]
With the accession ofBoris Johnson to the mayoralty of London, a controversial 80 acre high-rise redevelopment has been under way on the eastern borough boundary with theRoyal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, involving the dismantling of the twoEarl's Court Exhibition Centres in RBKC and in Hammersmith and Fulham and the emptying and demolition of hundreds of commercial properties, thousands of both private and social housing units and including the demolition of a rare example in Fulham of mid-Victorian housing, designed byJohn Young, close to Grade I and II listed structures and to a number of conservation areas in both boroughs. It also involves the closure of the historic Lillie Bridge Depot, opened in 1872 and the dispersal of its operations byTfL[48][49]
Fulham is part of two constituencies: one,Hammersmith bounded by the north side of the Lillie Road, is represented byAndy Slaughter forLabour, the other,Chelsea and Fulham parliamentary seat is currently held byBen Coleman for theLabour since 2024. It had been held byGreg Hands and theConservatives for many years before this. Fulham was formerly a part of theHammersmith and Fulham parliamentary constituency which was dissolved in 2010 to form the current seats. However, parts of Fulham continue to score highly on theJarman Index, indicating poor health outcomes due to adverse socio-economic factors.[citation needed]
Fulham has in the past been solid Labour territory.Michael Stewart, one time Foreign Secretary in theWilson government, was its long-standing MP, from 1945 until he stood down in 1979. It became a politically significant part of the country, having been the scene of two major parliamentary by-elections in the 20th century. In 1933, the Fulham East by-election became known as the "peace by-election". The 1986 by-election following the death of Conservative MP,Martin Stevens, resulted in a Labour win forNick Raynsford on a 10% swing.[citation needed]
With "gentrification", Fulham voters have been leaning towards the Conservatives since the 1980s as the area underwent huge demographic change: the tightly packedterraces which had housed working-class families employed in trade, engineering and the industry that dominated Fulham's riverside being gradually replaced with young professionals.[citation needed]
In the2005 General Election, Greg Hands won the Hammersmith and Fulham Parliamentary seat for the Conservatives, polling 45.4% against Labour's 35.2%, a 7.3% swing. In the 2010 General Election, he was re-elected this time for the newly formed Chelsea and Fulham constituency. In the 2015 General Election he was returned with an increased share of the vote.[citation needed] In the 2024 General Election Ben Coleman defeated Greg Hands by151 votes to retake the seat for the Labour Party.
Hammersmith and Fulham is currently controlled by Labour. At the2014 local elections, Labour won 11 seats from the Conservatives, giving them 26 councillors and control of the council (said to have been the then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron's "favourite"[50]) for the first time since 2006.
The first organised sporting activity in Fulham took place at theLillie Bridge Grounds in the 1860s when British Amateur Athletics were introduced and the first codifiedBoxing underMarquess of Queensberry Rules matches were staged. The catalyst for sport in Fulham was theCambridge rowing blue and sports administrator, WelshmanJohn Graham Chambers. Later, with the destruction of the Lillie Bridge Grounds by a riot in 1889, they were replaced first by theFulham F.C. stadiumCraven Cottage and theChelsea F.C. stadium atStamford Bridge.Other sports facilities were opened at The Queen's Club forrackets and tennis and at the private members'Hurlingham Club, for a range of sporting activities in the south of the borough.Hurlingham Park's tennis courts are used as netball courts and tennis nets are taken down and so restricting access to the courts for tennis. Hurlingham Park hosts the annual Polo in the Park tournament, which has become a recent feature of the area. The Hurlingham club is the historic home ofpolo in the United Kingdom and of the world governing body of polo.[citation needed]
Public tennis courts are located in Bishops Avenue, off Fulham Palace Road and on Eel Brook Common. Rugby is played on Eel Brook Common and inSouth Park.[51] Normand Park in Lillie Road is the entry into the Virgin Active-operatedFulham Pools swimming facilities and neighbouring tennis courts.[52]
Fulham has five activeBowls clubs: The Bishops Park Bowls club, The Hurlingham Park Bowls Club, Normand Park Bowls Club, The Parson's Green Bowls club and The Winnington in Bishops Park.[citation needed]
The historic entertainment destinations in Fulham, have includedEarl's Court Pleasure Gardens, the brain-child ofJohn Robinson Whitley, straddling the border with Kensington since 1879, then the 1894Great Wheel and the 6,000-seater Empress Hall,[53] built in 1894 at the instigation of international impresario,Imre Kiralfy — the scene of his spectacular shows and later sporting events and famous ice shows — and latterly, Earl's Court II, part of theEarl's Court Exhibition Centre in the neighbouring,Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.[54] The first closed in 1959, replaced by an office block, theEmpress State Building. The second, opened byPrincess Diana, lasted just over 20 years until 2014. Along with the architecturally pleasing Mid-Victorian Empress Place, formerly access to the exhibition centre, it is destined for high rise re-development, but with usage as yet to be confirmed.[55][56]
No trace is left today of either of Fulham's two theatres, both opened in 1897. The 'Grand Theatre' was on the approach toPutney Bridge and was designed by the prolificWGR Sprague, author of venues such asWyndham's Theatre and theAldwych Theatre in London'sWest End. It gave way to office blocks in the late 1950s. The 'Granville Theatre', founded byDan Leno, to the design ofFrank Matcham, once graced a triangle of land atWalham Green.[57] After theMusic hall era had passed, It served as a film and television studio, but was finally demolished in 1971. It too has been replaced by an office block in Fulham Broadway.[58]
The performing arts continue in Fulham, like the notableFulham Symphony Orchestra and the successful Fulham Opera.[59] St John's Parish Church, at the top ofNorth End Road, stages choral and instrumental concerts as do other churches in the area.[60]
There is a cinema complex as part of the Fulham Broadway Centre.Fulham Town Hall, built in 1888 in theclassical renaissance, was used as a popular venue for concerts and dances, especially its Grand Hall. Behind Fulham Broadway, the heart of the original village ofWalham Green has undergone pedestrianisation, including the spot once occupied by the village green and its pond next to St. John's Parish Church and bordered by a number of cafés, bars, and a dance studio in the old Fulham Public Baths. The largest extant supermarket in Fulham, is located on the site of a cinema later converted to the iconic "Dicky Dirts" jean store with its sloping shop-floor, at the top ofNorth End Road'sStreet market. It started a new trend in how retail was done.[61]
The debut albums by 1970s new wave bandsThe Stranglers (Rattus Norvegicus) andGeneration X (Generation X) were recorded at TW Studios, 211 Fulham Palace Road. The Greyhound music venue at 176 Fulham Palace Road hosted up and coming punk, post-punk and indie bands in the late 1970s and the 1980s.[62] Film music creator,Hans Zimmer doubleOscar winner, launched his career in a studio behind the Lillie Langtry public house inLillie Road in the 1970s.[27]
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The most illustrious brewery in Fulham was theSwan Brewery, Walham Green, dating back to the 17th century. Among its patrons were kings and other royalty.[63] It was followed by the North End Brewery in 1832, Cannons again in North End in 1867 and finally on account oftemperance, thealcohol-free phenomenon that wasKops Brewery founded in 1890 at a site inSands End.[citation needed] In 1917 Kops Brewery closed and was converted into a margarine factory.[64]
Gin distilling came to the remnants of the North End Brewery in Seagrave Road after a brief period of service as a timber works in the 1870s and lasted for almost a century. The premises were taken over by distillers Vickers who at the outbreak of theFirst World War sold out to Burnett's, producers of White Satin Gin, until a 1970s take-over by aKentucky liquor business. None of the breweries remains.[27]
With its long history of brewing, Fulham still has a number of pubs andgastropubs.[65] The oldest tavern is theLillie Langtry in Lillie Road, originally theLillie Arms named after its first freeholder, Sir John Scott Lillie, who built it in 1835 as part of the 'North End Brewery' complex, run from 1832 to 1833 by a Miss Goslin.[66] It was intended originally to service the Kensington Canal workers and bargees. Later, it was the watering hole of the new railway builders, motor and omnibus company staff and latterly Earl's Court exhibition and Chelsea F.C. visitors. Of the three popular neighbouring pubs acquired by developers during 2014–15, theImperial Arms and thePrince of Wales were forced to shut; only theAtlas, reconstructed after bomb damage in theSecond World War, has been reprieved.
The White Horse inParsons Green is colloquially known by many as the "Sloaney Pony",[67] a reference to the "Sloane Rangers" who frequent it. Pubs which areGrade II listed buildings include theDuke on the Green andAragon House both facing Parsons Green,the Cock inNorth End Road, and theTemperance in Fulham High Street. Other pubs includethe Durrell in Fulham Road, the locally andMichelin Guide listed 1866Harwood Arms in Walham Grove andthe Mitre on Bishops Road.[68]
Fulham has several parks, cemeteries and open spaces, of whichBishop's Park,Fulham Palace Gardens,Hurlingham Park,South Park,Eel Brook Common andParsons Green are the largest.[citation needed]
Among the other spaces are Normand Park, the vestige of a convent garden with a bowling green,Lillie Road Recreation Ground with its gym facility and Brompton Park in Seagrave Road. TheThames riverside walk in Bishop's Park was historically interrupted by the Fulham football ground, but with the completion of the Fulham Pier extension it is now continuous as part of theThames Path, continuing past the neighbouring flats, the Crabtree pub andThe River Cafe (London) towardsHammersmith Bridge, affording views of the river and rural scenes on the opposite bank.[69]
Fulham parish's rural past meant that its grand houses and not so grand vernacular and industrial buildings were either clustered in the village ofWalham Green, along the Thames or scattered among the fields of the hamlet ofNorth End. Many historic structures fell prey to industrialisation, war-time bombing or a rush to demolition and redevelopment. Gone areBurne-Jones's 'Grange' in W14 andFoote's 'Hermitage' villa and park as isLovibond's Cannon Brewery in SW6.[70]
The ancient buildings and estate ofFulham Palace, the seat of the Bishops of London until 1973, remains the outstanding asset with its Grade I listed medieval andTudor buildings including a small museum, 13 acres of grounds, walled garden, and the part-excavated longestmoat in England. The gardens are Grade II* listed. The further original grounds are now divided between a park by the riverside, All Saints’ Primary School and The Moat School, and publicallotments.
Church Gate to the south ofFulham Palace, is the approach toAll Saints Church, with its 14-15th-c. tower and 18th-c. tombs in the churchyard including those of a number of the Bishops of London. TheRoman Catholic Relief Act 1791 led to a gradual reintroduction of Catholic worship in the parish, but not until 1847 was the foundation stone laid for a church. This wasSt Thomas of Canterbury Church, Fulham, with its presbytery, churchyard and school, offCrown Lane, designed inGothic Revival style byAugustus Pugin.[71] It is his only complete church and associated buildings in London and isGrade II* listed.[72]
There are a number of other statutorily and locally listed structures strewn across Fulham. Worthy of note is the last remaining conical kiln of theFulham Pottery. Broomhouse Lane has a number of structures of interest, ranging from the Broomhouse draw-dock of medieval origin to 18th-c. cottages (Sycamore and Ivy) and theGothic revivalCastle Club.[73]The Vineyard in Hurlingham Road is of 17th-c. origin with later 19th-c. additions such as the stable buildings. TheHurlingham Club and grounds are of 18th-c. origin and Grade II* listed.[citation needed]The windingNorth End Road had several buildings of note. What remains are 'Crowthers' at no. 282, first built in 1712 with its extant 18th-c. gate-piers and themodernist (1938)Seven Stars public house, acquired by developers in 2014 and now converted into flats.
The New King's Road contains several 18th-c. and early 19th-c. residences, namely,Northumberland House,Claybrook House, Jasmine House, Belgrave House,Aragon House, and237–245 New King's Road, all Grade II listed.[74]
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Much of the stock in Fulham attests its vigorous 19th-c. industrial and urban development, most of it, 'low-rise', and benefiting from the brick-fields that abounded locally at the time. An unlisted vestige of the early industrial era is the 1826 remnant of Gunter's canal bridge, still visible from platform 4 atWest Brompton station.[27]
Fulham has several references in song lyrics:
Fulham has been featured in films includingThe Omen andThe L-Shaped Room.Fulham Broadway Underground station was used inSliding Doors.[75]
Esther Rantzen, presenter of long-runningBBC One TV magazine,That's Life! frequently usedNorth End market to gauge public opinion (vox pop).
Fulham is home to several schools, including independent pre-preparatory andpreparatory schools. Noted Fulham secondary establishments are the Grade II ListedFulham Cross Girls School,The London Oratory School,Lady Margaret School andFulham Cross Academy.[76] There is alsoKensington Preparatory School, that moved fromKensington into a former convent, next toFulham Library in 1997.[77] To cater for the large French-speaking population in the area, a French language primary school, 'Marie d'Orliac', has opened in theGrade II listed formerPeterborough School nearParsons Green tube station. It is a feeder school for theLycée Français Charles de Gaulle inSouth Kensington.[78]
An early account of Fulham, from a pedestrian's viewpoint, is provided byThomas Crofton Croker in his journal published in 1860.[79]
Fulham nestles in a loop of the Thames across the river fromBarnes andPutney. It straddles theWimbledon andRichmond/Ealing Broadway branches of theDistrict line of the tube — Fulham's tube stations arePutney Bridge,Parsons Green,Fulham Broadway (originally namedWalham Green),West Kensington (originallyFulham - North End) andBaron's Court.[80]
TheLondon OvergroundWest London Line stops atWest Brompton, just inside theFulham borough boundary, and atImperial Wharf in Fulham,Sands End. Until 1940 there was aChelsea and Fulham railway station on this line, close to Stamford Bridge Stadium on Fulham Road, but this was closed followingWorld War II bomb damage.[81]
Major urban routes, or trunk roads, cross the area: The Talgarth Road — theA4, Fulham Palace Road — theA218 road, Fulham Road — theA219 road, the New King's Road — theA308 road, Wandsworth Bridge Road — theA217 road,Dawes Road — theA3219 road, Lillie Road — theA3218 road.
By road:
By rail:
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London/Hammersmith and Fulham travel guide from Wikivoyage
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fulham".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 293.| International | |
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