Seasons in time: the Palace garden from then to now

The grounds of Fulham Palace have undergone many phases of development since the Bishops of London took ownership over 1,300 years ago. Before the arrival of photography in the late 19th century, these changes were recorded through maps, engravings, paintings and written documents. Some developments are also evident in the archaeological record. For example, the earliest signs of ploughing or gardening were discovered in 12th century layers just east of the present day building, on what is now the main lawn outside the café.

Historically, the Bishops’ land extended beyond the current moated site and included the Warren, which was once a hunting park and is now allotments, as well as the river meadows.

This exhibition explores the history of the gardens through items from the museum’s archive and supporting collections, capturing their transformation over time.

Tudor

By the Tudor period, a brick wall running from north to south separated the formal gardens from the rest of the Palace grounds. Part of this wall still survives today on either side of the Tudor gateway leading into the walled garden.

During the time of Bishop Fitzjames, who served from 1506 to 1522, linear planting was introduced along with the creation of an orchard. Bishop Grindal, Bishop of London from 1559 to 1570, became known for cultivating grapes outdoors and famously sent them to Elizabeth I each year.

A renewed interest in horticulture during this period was closely linked to patronage among the upper classes. Evidence also points to a kitchen or herb garden located south of the Palace, behind what is now the chapel. This was recorded in the 1647 Parliamentary Survey.

Bishop Compton’s garden

Bishop Compton, who served as Bishop of London from 1675 to 1713, is recognised for bringing international significance to the Palace garden. He was a passionate botanist with a keen interest in collecting rare plants. In his role as Bishop of London, he was also responsible for overseeing the Church of England in America, the Caribbean, and various forts and cities across Africa and India.

In 1678, he arranged for missionary and botanist John Banister to send seeds and cuttings from Virginia. Thanks to this initiative, species such as sweetbay, or Magnolia virginiana, were grown in England for the first time at Fulham Palace. The success of this botanical exchange earned the garden a growing reputation and drew visitors from far and wide. Compton welcomed horticulturists and botanists to explore the grounds.

Contemporary sources about the garden from Compton’s era are limited. However, some insight comes from the work and correspondence of botanist and author Dr Leonard Plukenet and plant collector James Petiver. The most substantial evidence comes from historical pressed plant specimens, or herbarium sheets, found in the Sloane Herbarium at the Natural History Museum in London and the Herbarium at the University of Oxford.

Bishop Compton’s successor, Bishop Robinson, who served from 1713 to 1722, focused more on growing edible plants and removed or sold many of Compton’s collections. Although most of the original plants and trees from Compton’s time did not survive, some species such as the cork oak have been replanted.

Compton border

Research led by botanist and curator Dr Mark Spencer has been ongoing since 2016. As a result, there is now a comprehensive list of plants known to have grown during Bishop Compton’s tenure. Dr Spencer examined archival sources including herbarium sheets at the Natural History Museum, many of which are clearly labelled in ink with phrases such as crevit in Horto Comptoniano, meaning ‘found growing in Compton’s garden’.

Under the leadership of the Palace’s head gardener Lucy Hart, the gardening team has been reintroducing most of these documented plant species. The plants have been added to permanent beds located outside the walled garden, along the east and south sides. In March 2024, these Compton plant beds were awarded full National Plant Collections copyright status by the Plant Collections Committee in the category of Historical Collections.

Stove houses

There is limited information about the exact layout of Compton’s garden. However, John Rocque’s map of 1745, created just over 30 years after Compton’s death, offers some clues. The map shows Baroque features that were possibly introduced by George London, who served as Compton’s gardener.

More recently, archaeological investigations near the main Palace building have uncovered the remains of walls believed to be part of Compton’s stove houses. These buildings were used to shelter tender plants that needed warmth, a reliable water supply, and constant care to maintain the correct temperature. The heat was generated using coal.

Stove houses were first developed in the Netherlands in the late 17th century to successfully grow pineapples, a prized and high-status fruit imported from South America. These early greenhouses were similar in design to the later ‘pinery-vinery’ structures, which were built to cultivate both grapes and pineapples. Today, the reconstructed 1820s vinery within the walled garden illustrates this type of structure. It uses an underfloor heating system first installed during the Georgian period.

The vinery: past & present

The vinery fell into disrepair over the years but was rebuilt in 2010 with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. In 2024, the Trust added a new greenhouse to the east of the vinery and converted the east wing of the vinery into an event space for workshops and educational sessions. Additionally, a pond was created in the northeast quadrant of the walled garden. These 2024 projects were funded by the Kusuma Trust and individual donors. They are part of our ongoing efforts to promote plant and wildlife diversity while engaging visitors with our work.

Like its original purpose, the west wing of the glasshouse is now used as a plant nursery for growing edibles such as tomatoes and cucumbers. This produce, along with other vegetables and soft fruits grown in the walled garden, is available for sale at the barrow.

Overlooking the vinery is an almost 200-year-old Wisteria sinensis. This plant was introduced from China to England in 1816. An estate plan from 1831 shows a curved feature at the exact location of the wisteria. It was originally supported by iron hoops, which can be seen in early 20th-century photographs of the walled garden. By the early 2000s, the plant had grown so large that it needed more substantial support. At that time, wooden posts and scaffold poles were used, but these soon became rotten, and the structure became unsightly.

The original 19th-century iron hoops could still be found in the ground, and these were used as a guide to create a new support frame. In 2022, a design using sixty-four double-layer hoops, attached to a supporting bar, was created by Warren Casey of Warren Gates Ltd. This new support system will ensure the wisteria remains supported for at least the next hundred years.

Georgian

Bishop Terrick (Bishop of London 1764 – 1777) undertook significant rebuilding of much of the Palace and landscaping of the grounds, with an emphasis on the river view. In 1751, Sir William Watson attempted to identify which trees from Bishop Compton’s time were still present. His findings were presented in An account of the Bishop of London’s Garden at Fulham to the Royal Society. However, a contemporary account from 1766 by Dr John Hope, King’s botanist for Scotland and professor of botany at Edinburgh, noted that ‘some fine trees were thrown down,’ probably as a result of Terrick’s remodelling. The walled garden was constructed by Terrick’s architect, Stiff Leadbetter.

In 1793, Bishop Porteus (Bishop of London 1787 – 1809) commissioned the antiquarian Daniel Lysons, who is best known for his work The Environs of London, to identify which trees had been removed during Terrick’s tenure by comparing his survey with Watson’s account.

Bishop Blomfield (Bishop of London 1828 – 1856) was a keen botanist, and his son recalled, ‘he employed himself in introducing the latest improvements to the garden and planting it with new and choice trees; his only fault was, that he did not use the axe with sufficient freedom’. He may have planted the wisteria and knot garden in the walled garden.

Paths in working gardens were traditionally placed through areas with the best views of the estate and were often bordered by espalier fruit trees to block the productive beds. Although there are no records of the walled garden having apple arches along the central axis, an Ordnance Survey from 1869 and a painting by Jessie McGregor in 1915 show trees planted along both sides of the path.

In the 1990s, twenty-two pairs of heritage apple trees, donated by the East Malling Research Centre, were planted along the west-east central path. Over the years, improper maintenance led to poor tree condition. In 2016, the trees were grafted onto semi-dwarf rootstock to improve their health and productivity, and to train them to form a small canopy along the path without obstructing the view of the All Saints Church tower. A soft steel arch was constructed between 2017-2019 to support the new planting along the central path. Lavender was also added along the path’s borders to attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

Garden parties

Bishop Tait (Bishop of London 1856 – 1868) and his wife Catharine began the tradition of hosting large-scale parties at Fulham Palace. Bishop Creighton (Bishop of London 1897 – 1901) and his wife Louise continued this custom and installed large marquees for their events, with attendance reaching up to 4,000 guests. They hosted major celebrations, including Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the International Congress of Women, and the ‘after-party’ for the Church of England’s Lambeth and Pan-Anglican conferences. The first open-air theatre performance took place at Fulham Palace in July 1898, with the Elizabethan Stage Society performing Ben Jonson’s The Sad Shepherd in the Tudor courtyard.

Bishop Winnington-Ingram (Bishop of London 1901 – 1939) continued the festive tradition by holding a Christmas party each year for the children of the clergy and the choirboys in his diocese.

20th century

Formerly known as the ‘west meadow’, the land to the south of the main Palace building was gifted to the council by Bishop Temple (Bishop of London 1885 – 1896) in 1893. Alongside the gift of the ‘moat garden’, this donation helped create Bishop’s Park and established a river wall that protected the Palace from flooding. Sadler Philips wrote in his book about the gardens: ‘here there are extensive walks and a lawn with that soft, springy turf, which only comes from ages of growth and cultivation’ (Fulham Palace, formerly called Fulham House and Fulham Manor, 1907).

In 1916, Bishop Winnington-Ingram offered The Warren to the north of the Palace as a gift to local residents as part of the World War I ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. This offer was not accepted until 1917. British painter and author Jessie Macgregor recalled her visit to the grounds, stating, “the War had transformed the once beautiful park and warren – which are separated from the flower gardens only by a low wire fence – into a vast drilling ground” (Gardens of Celebrities, 1918). By 1920, the sluice could no longer pull fresh water in because the water level in the Thames was too low. The moat, no longer supporting fish or waterlilies and infested with rats, became too expensive to repair. It was eventually drained and filled with rubble in 1924.

The Ecclesiastical Commissioners took over responsibility for Fulham Palace from the Diocese of London in 1945. They ensured the gardens were well maintained, repaired the glasshouses, and sought advice from the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew. In 1973, the last Bishop to live at the Palace, Bishop Stopford (Bishop of London 1961 – 1976), moved out. The Palace was leased to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The council commissioned a tree survey and planted new trees known to have been grown by Bishop Compton based on recommendations from consultants. The Palace gardens were granted Grade II listed garden status* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens in 1987. Today, the Palace is managed by Fulham Palace Trust, a registered charity. The gardens are currently cared for by a head gardener, two senior gardeners, three garden apprentices, seventy garden volunteers, and two cats!

21st century

An aim of Fulham Palace Trust has been to preserve the historical significance of the site and tell the story of plant collecting from the ‘colonies’ overseas. In 2023, some of the heritage apple trees in the orchard were propagated to improve their condition. Others were removed, and new trees were introduced. Apple trees are susceptible to climate change and struggle to survive without human intervention. Head gardener Lucy Hart selected forty-seven trees based on historical records and planted them in four quadrants.

These include twelve varieties recommended by George London (Compton’s gardener) and his apprentice Henry Wise in The Retired Gardener (1706). These were grafted onto semi-vigorous rootstock to provide resilience in poorer ground conditions, enable apples to be produced within three years, and allow the trees to reach a height of four metres. Several trees grown by Bishop Tait in the 1860s and 1870s were also reintroduced. Several transatlantic cultivars were included, originally bred in England and Europe, sent to North America in the 16th century, and later brought back. The final type of apple we planted were American-bred varieties, which were sent to England.

The Trust has recently received a grant to replace the box hedge (Buxus sempervirens) in the knot garden, which has succumbed to box tree caterpillar (Cydalima perspectalis). Last summer, the infestation became overwhelming and defoliated most of the leaves, leaving the 300 metres of box hedge mostly dead. Past efforts to use liquid seaweed to keep the infestation at bay are no longer effective. Treating it with a biopesticide does not align with our biodiversity policy or sustainability goals, as it could potentially harm other lepidoptera species. Additionally, it would be a costly and lengthy struggle. We will plant an alternative Podocarpus species instead.

This exhibition was created by Fulham Palace collections & conservation officer Roxane Burke based on research undertaken by Alexis Haslam, Lucy Hart, Dr. Mark Spencer, India Harris, Sarah Lamden and Sonia Crutchlow.