When was fulham established

The house was built chiefly of wood, of the earl's own growing, and the interior was principally fitted up with cedar of the largest growth ever produced in this country. The exterior was covered with coloured slates, having nearly the same appearance and solidity as stone. The front next the river was ornamented with a colonnade, extending the whole length of the building, and thatched with reeds, to correspond with the roof.

The house, however, has long since been pulled down. Passing up Crab Tree Lane, and returning to the village by the Hammersmith and Fulham Road, we pass on our left the cemetery for the parish of Fulham, which was opened in It is laid out in Fulham Fields, and covers several acres of land which had previously served to rear fruit and vegetables. The land all around for a considerable distance, stretching away towards Hammersmith and North End, is still covered with market-gardens, excepting here and there where a few modern buildings have been erected.

Among these is the St. James's Home and Penitentiary, which was originally established at Whetstone. This thoroughfare appears at one time to have been called Bear Street, and in the more ancient parishbooks it is denominated Fulham Street. The old "Golden Lion," in this street, which was pulled down only a few years ago to make room for a new public-house bearing the same sign, is closely connected by tradition with the annals of the palace. The old house, which dated back to the reign of Henry VII.

Bishop Bonner, according to one account, died at Fulham in his arm-chair, smoking tobacco; and the late Mr. Strange stories are told of a subterranean passage which existed, it is said, between this house and the palace. On the pulling down of the old "Golden Lion," the panelling was purchased by the second Lord Ellenborough, for the fitting up of his residence, Southam House, near Cheltenham.

The Workhouse formerly stood on the east side of the High Street. It was built in , but had been in a dilapidated condition for many years, and was pulled down about ; a large building to be used as the Union for the joint parishes of Fulham and Hammersmith having been erected in Fulham Fields.

Cipriani, the distinguished Florentine painter, lived for some time in a house adjoining the old workhouse; he died in London in In order to gain some idea of what the external appearance of Fulham was at the commencement of the last century, we have only to suppose ourselves carried back to that date, and to be walking through the village with old Master Bowack, the author of a "History of Fulham" published about that time.

We shall observe, as he tells us, "that the houses are commonly neat and well built of brick, and from the gate of the Queen's Road run along on both sides of the way almost as far as the church. Also from the Thames side into the town stands an entire range of buildings, and upon the passage leading to the church, called Church Lane, are several very handsome airy houses. But the buildings run farthest towards the north, extending themselves into a street through which lies the road a very considerable way towards Hammersmith.

Besides, there are several other handsome buildings towards the east, called the Back Lane, and a great number of gardeners' houses scattered in the several remote parts of the parish. Blomfield, in his work above quoted, "The principal features of the town whitewash and stucco apart appear to be much the same. The aspect of the river-side was, of course, very different. The bridge was not built till twenty years later, and the road came down to the bank, and, indeed, in a pleasant green, on one side of which stood the old 'Swan' Inn, and the other side was overshadowed by elm-trees.

A clump of trees stood at one corner of the road, above which rose the tower of the church, with its leaden spire, and at the riverside lay the ferry-boat, waiting for passengers.

Fulham was then a point for pleasure-parties on the water, as Richmond and Kew are now. In comparing our appearance now with what it was then," continues Mr. Blomfield, "we must not, of course, venture beyond the pump at the end of High Street, and get entangled in the mushroom growth of semi-detached villas which have been for years slowly but relentlessly driving back the struggling market-gardener from point to point into the river.

We must think of the London Road as it was at that time, not bordered by comfortable houses, rows of snug-looking whitewashed villas, smart public-houses, or red-brick hospitals, but with a yawning ditch on each side, and, beyond these, green fields and garden-grounds, hedges and orchards, and now and then a clump of elms and a farmhouse or a gardener's cottage peeping through; for as to regular roadside houses, you would not pass a score between Fulham Pump and Hyde Park.

Nor must we forget that the traveller would observe between Fulham and London certainly not less than three gallows-trees, bearing their ghastly fruit of highwaymen hung in chains. Then the road itself was very different from what it is now: the only idea at that time of making a good road was to pave it, and, accordingly, the Fulham Road was paved, but only in one or two places; till, at length, what with part being badly paved, and part left unpaved, and deep in its native mud; what with the narrowness of the way in many places, and the depth of the ditches on each side, the road grew so dangerous that, a few years later, it was found necessary to take the matter up in Parliament.

It then appeared that a rate of two shillings in the pound was not considered sufficient to put the road into a safe state; that it was almost impassable in winter; and that a great deal of mischief had been done to persons who travelled on that road. Seeing the Fulham Road as it is now, swarming with omnibuses and butchers' carts, carriages, and coal-wagons, it is very difficult to imagine its condition a century and a half ago, with perhaps "a solitary market-wagon toiling through the mud, or drawing to one side, at the imminent risk of sliding into the ditch, to allow the Duchess of Munster—who lived in a large mansion near the entrance to the village—to pass by in her great lumbering coach and six, tearing along at the dangerous rate of five miles an hour!

Holcrofts, which stands on the left side of the Fulham Road, as we pass from the top of the High Street, dates from the early part of the last century, when it was built by Robert Limpany, a wealthy merchant of London, whose estate in this parish was so considerable that, as Bowack tells us, "he was commonly called the Lord of Fulham.

The building was subsequently known as Holcrofts Hall, and was for some time occupied by Sir John Burgoyne, who here gave some clever dramatic performances. Here it was that the celebrated Madame Vestris lived, after her marriage with Charles Mathews, the well-known actor, and here she died in , at which time the house was called Gore Lodge.

Holcrofts Priory, on the opposite side of the road, was built about the year , on the site of an old Elizabethan mansion called Claybrooke House, from a wealthy family of that name who owned the property in the seventeenth century. One of the family was buried in Fulham Church in Claybrooke House was in the occupation of the Frewens at the commencement of the last century, and afterwards became the property of the above-mentioned Robert Limpany.

For many years prior to its demolition it was used as a seminary for young ladies. In Elysium Road, near the High Street, is a large and handsome ecclesiastical-looking edifice, in the Gothic style.

This is an Orphanage Home, under the patronage of the Bishop of London, founded a few years ago by Mrs. Tait, the wife of Bishop since Archbishop Tait.

In Burlington Road, formerly known as Back Lane, the thoroughfare running parallel with the High Street on its eastern side, and extending from the corner of Fulham Road to King's Road, Fulham Almshouses originally stood; they were founded, as already stated, by Sir William Powell, in , but rebuilt near the parish church in Burlington House, whence the road derives its name, was for upwards of a century a well-known academy kept at one time by a Mr.

On the grounds attached to the house is now a Reformatory School for Females; it was built about Farther along the Fulham Road, on the north side, stands Munster House, which is supposed to owe its name to Melesina Schulenberg, who was created by George I.

According to Faulkner, it was at one time called Mustow House; but as Mr. Croker suggests, in his "Walk from London to Fulham," "this was not improbably the duchess's pronunciation. In the seventeenth century the property seems to have belonged to the Powells, from whom it passed into the possession of Sir John Williams, Bart.

In , Lysons tells us, the house was occupied as a school; and in Faulkner informs us that it was the residence of M. Sampayo, a Portuguese merchant.

It was afterwards for many years tenanted by Mr. John Wilson Croker, M. Croker resigned Munster House as a residence, "after having externally decorated it with various Cockney embattlements of brick, and collected there many curious works of art, possibly with a view of reconstruction.

On the opposite side of the road is an extensive garden for the supply of the London market, by the side of which runs Munster Road, whence a turning about half-way down leads on to Parson's Green. Fulham Lodge, which stood on the south side of the main road, close by Munster Terrace, was a favourite retreat of the Duke of York, and for some time the home of George Colman the Younger.

Fulham Park Road covers the spot whereon the lodge stood. Continuing along the Fulham Road about a quarter of a mile, we reach Percy Cross, or rather, as it was formerly called, Purser's Cross. Here Lord Ravensworth has a suburban residence, in the garden of which is a fine specimen of an old "stone pine," reminding us of Virgil's line— "Pulcherrina pinus in hortis.

The grounds at the back of the house owe their charm to a former occupier, Mr. John Ord, a Master in Chancery, who about the middle of the last century planted them with such skill and taste that, though not extensive, they held a foremost rank among the private gardens in the neighbourhood of London. However, that "Purser," and not "Percy" Cross, has been for many years the usual mode of writing the name of this locality, is established by an entry in the "Annual Register" in On the opposite side of the road to Lord Ravensworth's house is Walham Lodge, formerly called Park Cottage, a modern, well-built house, standing within extensive grounds, surrounded by a brick wall.

Here for some years lived Mr. Brande, the eminent chemist, whose lectures on geology, delivered at the Royal Institution in , acquired great popularity. A house, now divided into two, and called Dungannon House and Albany Lodge, abuts upon the western boundary of Walham Lodge.

Tradition asserts that this united cottage and villa were, previous to their separation, known by the name of Bolingbroke Lodge, and as such became the frequent resort of Pope, Gay, Swift, and others of that fraternity; but it would seem as if tradition had mixed up this house with Bolingbroke House, Battersea, which we have lately described.

A few yards from Dungannon House, on the same side of the road, opposite to Parson's Green Lane, stands Arundel House, an old mansion, supposed to date from the Tudor period. It appears to have been newly fronted towards the close of the last century; and in the house was in the occupation of the late Mr. Hallam, the historian of the Middle Ages. On the opposite side of the road is the carriage entrance to Park House, which stands in Parson's Green Lane.

A stone tablet let into one of the piers of the gateway is inscribed, "Purser's Cross, 7th August, He had no sooner spoke these words but he pulled out a pistol, clapped it to his ear, and shot himself directly, before his pursuers could prevent him. The coroner's inquest brought in their verdict, and he was buried in a cross-road, with a stake through him; but it was not known who he was.

Park House, in Parson's Green Lane, is said to be a fac-simile of an older mansion, called Quibus Hall, which occupied the same site. The old hall at one time belonged to the Whartons. Lysons, on the authority of the parish books, states that a Sir Michael Wharton was living here in When the house was rebuilt, it was for a time called High Elms House.

A small house opposite, Audley Cottage, was for many years the residence of the late Mr. Thomas Crofton Croker, F. The name of the place, which was at one time Brunswick Cottage, was altered by Mr.

Croker to Rosamond's Bower, the property hereabouts having at some distant date formed part of a manorial estate called Rosamonds, which in the fifteenth century belonged to Sir Henry Wharton. Lysons, in his "Environs of London," states that "the site of the mansion belonging to this estate, now rented by a gardener, is said, by tradition, to have been a palace of Fair Rosamond. With reference to the present building, an ordinary two-storeyed dwelling-house, Mr.

Croker wrote:—"When I took my cottage, in , and was told that the oak staircase in it had belonged to the veritable 'Rosamond's Bower,' and was the only relic of it that existed, and when I found that the name had no longer a precise 'local habitation' in Fulham, I ventured, purely from motives of respect for the memory of the past, and not from any affectation of romance, to revive an ancient parochial name, which had been suffered to die out 'like the snuff of a candle.

Parson's Green is a triangular plot of ground at the southern end of the lane, at its junction with King's Road; and it was so called from the parsonage-house of the parish of Fulham, which stood on its west side, but was pulled down about the year The Green, on which successive rectors and their families disported themselves, is for the most part surrounded by small cottages.

There used to be held on the Green annually on the 17th of August, a fair, which had, as Faulkner tells us, "been established from time immemorial. Bennet, sister of Mr. And leave awhile his blissful groves; Aid me this alcove to sing, The author's seat whom Shenstone loves.

Edwards, the author of "Canons of Criticism," died at Parson's Green in , whilst on a visit to Richardson. A century or two ago Parson's Green was noted for its aristocratic residents. Ekins, Dean of Carlisle, who died there in Fitzherbert was at one time a resident here; and, according to Mr. Croker, she erected the porch in front of the house as a shelter for carriages. Madame Piccolomini, too, lived for some time on the east side of the Green. Rowland White, Lord Strafford's entertaining and communicative correspondent, was his contemporary there.

We know of no other who was Lord Chief-Justice. In the parish books," he adds, "the person to whose house Lord Bacon retired is called 'The Lord Vaughan,' who probably resided in the house now occupied by Mr. Maxwell, as a boarding-school, and called Albion House, a spacious mansion, built in that style of architecture which prevailed at the commencement of the reign of James I.

Close by Parson's Green is another open space, called Eelbrook Common, which "from time immemorial" has been used as a place of recreation for the dwellers in the neighbourhood. This plot of ground recently became the subject of a question in the House of Commons, in consequence of encroachments made upon it, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as lords of the manor, having disposed of some portion of it for building purposes, thus encroaching on the rights of the public.

On the south-west side of the Green, near Eelbrook Common, is Peterborough House, formerly the residence of the Mordaunts, Earls of Peterborough, whom we have already mentioned in our account of Fulham Church. The present building, a modern structure, dating from the end of the last century, has replaced an older mansion, which is described by Bowack as "a very large, square, regular pile of brick, with a gallery all round it upon the top of the roof.

It had," he continues, "abundance of extraordinary good rooms, with fine paintings. Swift, in one of his letters, speaks of Lord Peterborough's gardens as being the finest he had ever seen about London. The ancient building was known as Brightwells, or Rightwells, and was the residence of John Tarnworth, one of Queen Elizabeth's Privy Councillors, who died here in He died here in , and his widow soon afterwards married the first Earl of Exeter, whilst Sir Thomas's only daughter married the Honourable Thomas Carey, the Earl of Monmouth's second son, who, in right of his wife, became possessor of the estate.

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