Hammersmith, Fulham and Putney

by G. E. Mitton; John Cunningham Geikie

The palace grounds have been considerably curtailed by the formation of the public park, which now bounds them riverwards. The idea of giving this portion of land to the public was carried out by Bishop Temple, though it originated with his predecessor. The park includes the long strip above mentioned, lying outside the moat, and the field to the north already spoken of in connection with the drive. The embankment has entirely altered the aspect of this part of Fulham, and the days when the Bishop of London "took water" at his private stairs have gone for ever.

Within the palace gardens are many curious specimens of trees not found elsewhere in England. Bishop Grindal was the first of the Bishops to take an interest in gardening, but it is to Bishop Compton that we owe the real beauty of the gardens. He was bold enough to defy James II., and to declare in the House of Lords that the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of the kingdom was in danger; he further incensed the King by refusing to suspend a clergyman who had preached a sermon against Roman Catholicism. For this he himself was suspended, and not allowed to exercise his ecclesiastical functions, though, as according to the law, the temporalities of the see were his own—they could not be touched. The Bishop therefore retired to Fulham and sought solace among his plants, to the great gain of his successors in the See.

But the palace and its grounds have occupied us long enough, and the ramble through Fulham must be resumed.

A small footbridge leads across the moat to the churchyard. Crossing this, we find ourselves in Church Row, which brings us to the junction of the New King's Road and the old High Street. Following the New King's Road and passing under the railway, we come almost immediately to the shady drive leading to Mulgrave House. Adjoining the grounds of Mulgrave House are those of Hurlingham Club, which cover fifty acres, and include a picturesque lake. Pigeon-shooting, polo-playing, tennis, and archery are all provided for. The entrance in the Hurlingham Road leads to a well-kept drive, which takes us straight up to the club-house. The house is of white stone, and the front facing the river has an arcade supported by enormous pillars running right up to the cornice. On the west side is a fine conservatory, on the east the large dining-rooms and smoking-lounge, which have been added to meet requirements. Within the house itself the drawing-room and coffee-room have been ornamented with coloured designs on ceiling and walls, and are very bright and handsomely furnished. Many of the rooms upstairs have ornamented carved cornices and panels. The club was started in 1867, mainly for pigeon-shooting, under the auspices of Mr. Frank Heathcote, who leased it from Mr. Naylor. Before that time the house had been the residence of the Horsley-Palmers and of Lord Egremont. In 1874 the property was bought by the club, and polo-playing was begun. The King and Queen—as Prince and Princess of Wales—and Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh watched the first game in the June of that year.

The ancient history of the house is defective. In the churchwarden's accounts of the parish in 1681 we read: "It is ordered that there be built and erected two small tenements next to the north side of ye poore Almes Houses given by John Lappy with such old stuff as was lately taken downe from the Pest Houses in Hurlingham Field at ye charge of the Parish contayning two roomes." And Faulkner adds an extract from Brayley's "London" to the above in the form of a note: "Hurlingham Field is now the property of the Earl of Ranelagh, and the site of his house. It was here that great numbers of people were buried during the plague." The origin of the name seems lost in obscurity, though it has been suggested, perhaps facetiously, it was derived from the custom of hurling the bodies of the plague dead into any grave without care or compunction. Broom House, next door, with adjoining grounds, is noticed in Rocque's 1757 map, and is inscribed on Faulkner's 1813 map as "Broom Houses." Faulkner refers to it as a little village, but mentions that "the Dowager Countess of Lonsdale has an elegant house and garden here in full view of the Thames." The place is said to have received its name from the broom which grew here profusely. Broomhouse Road runs from Hurlingham Road, past the gates of Broom House, down to the river. It is a veritable lane, with leafy trees shadowing it. On the east side, a little above Broom House, is a very striking building of red brick, with bright white stone facings, and a square central tower surmounted by four pinnacles. This is the Elizabeth Free School, founded and endowed by Mr. Sulivan of Broom House, in 1855. Further down the road, close by the river, is Carnwath House, the residence of the Earl of Carnwath. It is irregularly built of brick. Beyond it is a raised path, which winds along by the river and leads past acres of market-gardens, in which are large plum-orchards.

Northward is Parsons Green, so called from the fact that the old rectory-house stood on the west side. Lysons says: "Parsonage house stands upon the west side of Parsons or Parsonage Green, to which it gave its name. It is now divided into two tenements. In the year 1598 it was in the tenure of Sir Francis Walsingham's widow." Bowack, in 1705, wrote that it was old and much decayed. He says an old stone building adjoining seemed to be 300 or 400 years old, and might have been used for religious services by the Rectors and their households. Parson's Green was once a very fashionable place; in Strype's edition of Stow's "Survey" it is commented on as having "very good houses for gentry." St. Dionis' Church is a noticeable object, built of red brick, with Bath stone dressings. Though only consecrated on June 18, 1885, it carries with it associations from an older building, St. Dionis Backchurch, which stood at the corner of Lime Street and Fenchurch Street. When that church had been pulled down, the pulpit, font, and altar were transferred to the new building at Fulham, and £10,000 was devoted out of the proceeds of the sale of the site for the use and endowment of the new church. The pulpit and font date from 1666. The plate also is interesting, including two flagons, four chalices, four patens, etc., which are of various dates from 1625 to 1725. A large red-brick hall, separated from the church by Rectory Road, is used as a mission-hall. A few steps further northward, partly hidden from the road by intervening buildings, was the old house called Rosamund's Bower. Before its demolition in 1892 it was quaintly pretty, with leaded window-panes and red-tiled roof, and was then known as Audley Cottage. It was called Rosamond's Bower first in order to perpetuate the tradition of its standing on the site of a mansion of Fair Rosamund. The earliest mention of it is in 1480, when it was valued at ten marks per annum. It belonged to Sir Michael Wharton before 1725, and when he died in that year it was divided between his co-heirs. It was the residence of Mr. Crofton Croker between 1837 and 1846, and he has written a very full account of it. Samuel Richardson came to Parson's Green in 1755 from North End. In Ashington Road stands the Church of the Holy Cross, a Roman Catholic building of plain yellow brick, with a cross at each end, built in 1886. Just after leaving Parson's Green, there is on the right a high red-brick wall, which shows signs of age. Within it stood until recently Peterborough House, the second of the name. The original Peterborough House stood on the site of one still older, known as Brightwells. It was the property of John Tarnworth, Privy Councillor to Queen Elizabeth, and he died here in 1569.

Sir Thomas Knolles afterwards owned it, and sold it in 1603 to Sir Thomas Smith, whose only daughter married the Hon. Thomas Carey. It was he who pulled down the old house and built a new one, calling it Villa Carey. Carey's daughter married Viscount Mordaunt, younger son of the Earl of Peterborough. The house recently demolished only dated from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Bowack describes the old house as a "very large square regular Pile, built of brick, and has a gallery all round it upon the roof." Building of red-brick mansions and small houses is being carried on vigorously all about here, and the face of the district has changed very rapidly.

Wandsworth Bridge Road runs across Townmead Road to the bridge. On the south of Townmead Road there is a small hospital for small-pox, built in 1876. Below it lies West Wharf. Eastward acres of market-gardens extend right up to the premises of the Imperial Gasworks. This part of the parish is called Sands End. Somewhere about here a very ancient house, called Grove House, stood. Rocque marks it "The Grove" in 1757 and 1761. The house called Sandford Manor is still standing, and is very little changed from the small print of it given on the title-page of Faulkner's large edition. It is a small white house close to Stanley Bridge, and has been often spoken of as if it were included in Chelsea. Addison, who lived here, used to date his letters from Chelsea. Therefore the house has been more particularly described in the section devoted to Chelsea. The Manor of Sandford is first mentioned in 1403, when Henry, Earl of Northumberland, gave it to the Dean and Chapter of St. Martin-le-Grand in exchange for a house in Aldersgate Street. King Henry VIII. granted the collegiate church of St. Martin and endowments to Westminster. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster granted the manor to the King again in 1549. It was sold by Queen Mary to the Maynards, in whose family it remained till 1756.

We have now traversed Fulham from end to end, beginning at the north-east corner, and ending in the south-east corner close to Stanley Bridge. Fulham can boast with pride of one ancient mansion—the palace of the Bishops of London—and of one literary reminiscence—that of Richardson—worthy to rank, if not in the very first class, yet somewhere near it.