Museums

Fulham Palace

The Bishops of London's country house for thirteen centuries, free, with a walled garden and the botanic garden a bishop planted from America.

The manor of Fulham belonged to the Bishops of London from the eighth century, and the palace by the river was their home from the Norman period until 1973, which makes it one of the longest-occupied houses in the country. What stands is a Tudor courtyard of red brick from the 1490s, with a fountain in the middle and the bishops' great hall off it, and a Georgian house of the 1760s wrapped round the older rooms, where the museum tells the story of the bishops and their palace. The garden is the older glory: Henry Compton, bishop from 1675, used his clergy in the American colonies to send him seeds and saplings, and grew the first magnolia in England here, with maples, tulip trees and black walnuts; the trees in the botanic garden and the walled kitchen garden with its vinery keep his tradition. The Fulham Palace Trust runs it and the whole place is free, the museum and the rooms on a booked slot, with Bishops Park beside it along the Thames and a café in the old drawing room.

Where

Bishop's Avenue, Fulham, SW6 6DX

Nearest station

Putney Bridge · 7 min walk

Hours

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