Фуламский дворец: История резиденции епископов Лондона

Grade I listed historic house museum in London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, United Kingdom

Fulham Palace, in Fulham, London, previously in the former English county of Middlesex, is a Grade I listed building with medieval origins and was formerly the principal residence of the Bishop of London. The site was the country home of the bishops from the 11th century until 1973. Though still owned by the Church of England, the palace, managed by the Fulham Palace Trust (registered charity 1140088), houses a number of restored historic rooms and a museum documenting its long history. The property resides next to Bishops Park and contains a large botanic garden. The palace garden is ranked Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The palace is open daily and is free to visit. According to figures released by the Fulham Palace Trust, over 390,000 people visited Fulham Palace in 2015/2016.

In 1918, part of the grounds of the palace was converted into allotments, for growing food to help the war effort. The palace itself formed part of Fulham military hospital. 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). However, the bishop was unwilling to let the palace pass into secular hands. After many years of indecision the church authorities vacated the palace in 1973.

The palace's moat was nearly in length. It was the largest domestic moated site in medieval England, but its origin is unknown. 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. Its distance from the palace suggests that it might have had a function other than defence. An alternative idea is that it was built by the Danes as a safeguard against flooding by the Thames. In 1976, the moated enclosure was designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The east window, destroyed in the war, was replaced by a new window by Ninian Comper in 1956. It shows "The Risen Saviour" with the message "Feed my sheep"; Bishops Creighton and Wand stand on either side. The top window commemorates Wand's son who died in a mountaineering accident in 1934. The west window by Clayton and Bell survived. Butterfield's patterned brickwork was painted over by Brian Thomas and students from Byam Shaw School of Art in 1953. The north wall painting shows: "The Fall" with Adam; the nativity is below; Atonement with the crucifixion, and the Last Supper with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The south wall: St Peter and a vision of unclean beasts, the stoning of St Stephen, the risen Christ with two hands of God the Father, Conversion of St Paul.

After the Bishops of London left the Palace in 1973, in 1975, the property was leased for 100 years by Hammersmith Council for the purpose of opening a museum and art gallery. After this, the palace and gardens suffered a period of neglect. In 1990, a trust was established to oversee the property in collaboration with the council. Some of the ancient trees in and around Fulham Palace remain to this day, and visitors can still see the knot garden and wisteria which survive in the Palace's walled gardens. A large holm oak (Quercus ilex) is believed to be 500 years old and has been designated as one of the Great Trees of London.

The Fulham Palace Restoration Project began in the 2000s and was carried out in three phases. The first phase, completed in 2006, restored the east wing of the palace and part of the west wing including the Tudor courtyard at the cost of £4 million. The third phase was completed in 2019 and includes a new museum as well as significant restoration work to the brickwork in the Tudor courtyard and the Tudor great hall. Funding for all three phases came from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Fulham Palace Trust.

In 1992, the Museum of Fulham Palace was set up in Bishop Howley's Dining Room and Bishop Porteus's Library (named after Bishop Beilby Porteus, 1731–1809), in the early 19th century part of the Palace. It contained some of the paintings that once hung in the building, stained glass, carved fragments of masonry and a 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, it was given to Thomas F. Bayard, U. S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and repatriated to New England. The palace's art collection includes a number of notable portraits: two 1798 works by Benjamin West, St Margaret of Scotland and Thomas a Becket; an oil on canvas of Field Marshal George Wade by Adriaen van Diest; an oil on canvas of Beilby Porteus by John Hoppner; and a Reginald Henry Lewis oil on canvas of William Wand.

The house and garden are open daily with free admission. The museum and historic rooms are open from 10.30 17.00 (10.30 16.00 in the winter). The restored walled garden is open daily from 10.15 16.15 (10.15 15.45 in the winter). The botanic garden is open daily from dawn to dusk. The café is in what was once Bishop Howley's dining room, and now serves lunches and light refreshments. The palace can be accessed from Fulham Palace Road, close to the northern end of Putney Bridge, as well as Bishop's Park and All Saints Church, Fulham. The nearest Underground station is