Road are not aggressively new. In the grounds of one of them--Eridge
House--there is a fine cedar, which shows that the grounds must have
belonged to some building older than that standing at present, probably
that of Fulham Lodge. On the east of the High Street stand All Saints'
National Schools. In the continuation of the High Street is an old house
on the left-hand side called Fulham House. It stands back on the east
side of the road behind a wall. Some of the carving on the fireplaces
and doors is very elaborate. In a large room upstairs a sumptuously
carved wooden mantel encloses a coloured marble block with a white
marble centre. The door of this room is also very fine. The cellars are
extraordinarily large and massively built. This used to be called
Stourton House. Faulkner mentions that in 1449 John Sherbourn and others
sold a house and garden at Fulham, then valued at 3s. 4d. per annum, to
John, first Lord Stourton, and it remained in possession of the family
many years. The Fulham Pottery and Cheavin Filter Company stands just at
the corner of the New King's Road and Burlington Street. The business
was established here by John Dwight in 1671. Specimens of his stone-ware
are to be seen in the British Museum, which in 1887 acquired twelve new
examples. It is said that John Dwight, M.A., of Christ Church College,
Oxford, was the inventor of porcelain in England. He also discovered the
mystery of the Cologne ware, and successfully competed with it in
England. Doulton himself, the founder of the great Doulton ware, was an
apprentice at Fulham. In 1840 the buildings were greatly enlarged and
improved, and again in 1864. The ornamental pottery which is still
made--though in a small quantity--resembles Doulton ware, but the great
development of the industry has been in the direction of glazed ware of
great resisting power. Cheavin's patent filters are sent all over the
world, and a speciality is made of the chemical trade, immense baths for
the electro-plating acids being supplied to Government.
Close at hand, at the back of High Street, stood the old workhouse,
which has been for many years pulled down. At the back of the High
Street also was a gaol for female convicts, which has now vanished. The
gaol was built about 1854 on the site of Burlington House, which had
been a school.
Church Row is a charming old-fashioned row, and the houses mentioned by
Bowack as "very handsome and airy" are probably those still standing. At
the end of the row are Sir William Powell's Almshouses, prettily
designed with red-tiled roofs, and at one end is a tower surmounted by
statues of female characters from the Bible. Directly across the road is
the old rectory-house. A shady avenue of young limes leads up to the
church. The tower, which is square, is shown in old prints to have been
surmounted by a steeple. It contains a peal of bells cast by Ruddle in
the middle of the eighteenth century; all the bells bear inscriptions,
and many of them the date of casting. Within the church porch is a board
with the following words: "1881. The Parish Church of All Saints,
Fulham, lapsed into a state of decay, and, being subject to the floods
from the river Thames, was pulled down and rebuilt. In the construction
of the present church, stones belonging to three previous churches, the
oldest of which apparently dated from the twelfth century, were
discovered.
"The east end has been carried nine feet, and the south wall five feet,
beyond the limits of the previous church, while the floor of the nave
has been raised two feet nine inches, and the roof thirteen feet above
the former levels. The cornerstone at the east angle of the north
transept was laid by Archibald Campbell Tait, 1880, and the church was
re-consecrated by John Jackson, Bishop of London, on July 9th, 1881."
The monuments preserved from the older buildings stand in the church in
rather different order from formerly. In the west end is that in
remembrance of Viscount Mordaunt, son of the Earl of Peterborough. It is
a statue of a man larger than life; the figure, which is carved in
marble, has a proud and defiant attitude. It stands on a slab of black
marble supported by a pedestal. On either side on smaller pedestals are
the Viscount's coronet and gauntlets. He is in Roman dress, and holds a
baton as Constable of Windsor Castle. On the left is his pedigree
engraved on marble. The date inscribed on the tablet to his memory is
1675. At the west end of the north aisle is the ancient font mentioned
by Faulkner as standing in the east end of the south aisle. It was the
gift of Mr. Thomas Hyll, churchwarden in 1622, and is of stone, painted
and gilt. On the east wall of the north aisle are three monuments which
attract attention. That of "Payne of Pallenswick Esqre," who "hath
placed this monument to the memory of himself and Jane his wife who hath
lived with him in wedlock XLIIII years and died the first day of May in
Anno Dmi 1610, and the said William Payne the day of ____ Anno Dmi ____.
The sayd William Payne hath given forever after his decease an Ilande in
the Ryver of Thames caled Makenshawe to the use of the poor of this
parish on Hammersmith side." The date of his own death not having been
filled in, it is probable he is buried elsewhere. Next to his is the
monument of Thomas Bonde, dated March, 1600, with a quaint inscription
beginning: "At Earth in Cornwell was my first begininge, from Bondes and
Corringtons as it may apere." Next to this is the monument of Katharine
Hart, of which a representation is given by Faulkner. She is kneeling
with her two sons and two daughters, in a style similar to the Lawrence
monument in Chelsea Old Church. The inscription bears date 1605. On the
north side of the chancel is a large monument to Sir Thomas Smith, died
November 28, 1609. Opposite is that of Lady Margaret Legh, who is
represented life-size dressed in stiff ruff and farthingale, holding an
infant in swaddling bands on her knee. Another infant in swaddling bands
is on her left side. Over her is an arch supported by pillars. The coat
of arms of her family rests in the centre of the arch. She died July 3,
1603. The monument has been very much admired. In the southern aisle is
the organ, with handsomely carved oak case. On a jutting wall close by
is a curious old brass plate found buried in 1770. The inscription is in
Latin to Margaret Svanders, who died 1529. The floor of the church is
thickly covered with flat tombstones. One of these is in memory of
Thomas Carlos, son of Colonel Careless, who hid in the oak-tree with
King Charles II., and who was consequently allowed to change his name to
Carlos, and to bear upon his arms a branching oak-tree. The coat of arms
on the tomb is very distinct, and the date 1665.
Opposite to the Peterborough monument at the west end is a very large
marble monument in memory of Dorothy Clarke, and her second husband. A
great marble urn upon it is said by Bowack to have been the work of
Grinling Gibbons, and to have cost £300. A memorial window to Archbishop
Tait is fixed in the west end of the south aisle. In the churchyard are
the tombs of Bishops Compton, Robinson, Gibson, Sherlock, Hayter,
Terrick, and Lowth. Here also is the grave of Theodore Hook, the wit,
with a perfectly plain stone at the head recording his death, "24th Aug.
1841 in the 53rd year of his age."
Near the entrance to what are now the public gardens stood Pryor's Bank,
a well-known house, built about the beginning of the eighteenth century
in an ancient style. It was originally called Vine Cottage, and was very
elaborately fitted up. Nearly all the doors were surrounded with carving
and golding. Many of them were of solid oak, and the panelling in the
rooms corresponded. Two quaint old panels of painted wood in one of the
reception-rooms bore curious figures on pedestals; underneath one who
was in ecclesiastical robes was written: "John Baylis, Lord Pryor, 1554,
of Werlock Abbey"; and under the other: "William of Wickham, 1366,
Bishop of Winchester." Close by Pryor's Bank stood Egmont Lodge, where
Theodore Hook lived. It was a small house, pulled down in 1855. The
aspect of the whole of this part has been completely changed of late
years by the building of a river-wall, and the laying out as a public
garden of the strip of ground by the river called Bishop's Park.
The grounds of this public park are decorated with flower-beds and
supplied with seats. On part of the space once stood Craven Cottage,
built by the Margravine of Brandenburg when she was Countess Craven. Sir
E. Bulwer-Lytton lived here from 1840 to 1846. At the beginning of
Bishop's Avenue is the entrance to the Manor House, or Fulham Palace, as
it is commonly called, the residence of the Bishop of London. Passing
between two lodges of red brick, and following a short drive, we come to
a massive gateway with heavy oak doors. Through this lies the first
courtyard, very little altered from Faulkner's print in 1813. The Manor
of Fulham, as we have seen already, has belonged to the See of London
since about 691, when it was given to Bishop Erkenwald and his
successors by "Tyrtilus, a bishop, with the consent of Sigehard, king of
the east Saxons and the king of the Mercians." Lysons adds that
Tyrtilus, Bishop of Hereford, who he supposes is intended, was
contemporary with Erkenwald. In 1647 it was sold to Colonel Harvey with
the leasehold land belonging to it for £7,617 8s. 10d., but was given
back to the See at the Restoration. In Domesday Book we read: "In Fulham
the Bishop of London holds forty hides.... Its whole value is forty
pounds, the like when received in Edward's [the Confessor's] time fifty
pounds."
The carriage-entrance is in Fulham Palace Road, and this leads to an
avenue of limes. To the north lies a part of the public park, once a
field belonging to the Bishops. The drive crosses the wonderful moat,
which is nearly a mile in circuit, and, if dug by the Danes as
conjectured, must be a thousand years old. This moat has given rise to
much discussion, as it is too far from the palace for any purpose of
defence, and the idea that it was made by the Danes as a partial
safeguard against the floods of the river is that which gains most
credence.
The palace is built round two courtyards, and the one first entered is
by far the older. It was built by Bishop Fitzjames in the reign of Henry
VII., and the great gateway which leads to it bears his arms cut in
stone. There are few places that preserve so completely their ancient
aspect as this courtyard; the material is red brick, and in summer, when
creepers climb over the worn bricks, its attractiveness is greatly
enhanced. The wing on the west or river side contains the rooms used by
Laud while Bishop; this part has been refaced, and the buttresses were
added at the same time, but within it is unchanged. Opposite, on the
eastern side, are the rooms once occupied by Bishop Bonner, which carry
an association no less interesting, though of a different kind. The
great porch facing the entrance gateway leads into the hall, which is
also part of Bishop Fitzjames's work. The hall is divided by a screen of
dark oak, which came from old Doctors' Commons, and the other oak
fittings were brought here from the former chapel, and originally
belonged to the chapel of London House, Aldersgate Street. A new ceiling
was put up by Bishop Sherlock, whose arms are over the fireplace, in
conjunction with a framed inscription recording the building of Bishop
Fitzjames on a site where buildings had stood as far back as the
Conquest. The hall was at one time used as the chapel, of which more
will be told presently. In the same block is the kitchen, once the
dining-room.
In 1715 Bishop Robinson presented a petition to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, stating that the palace was in a ruinous condition, and was
too large for the revenues. A number of commissioners, amongst whom were
Sir John Vanbrugh and Sir Christopher Wren, were accordingly appointed
to examine into the matter and report upon it. The purport of their
report was that, after taking down "the bakehouse and the pastry-house,
which adjoined to the kitchen, and all the buildings to the northward of
the great dining-room, there would be left between fifty and sixty
rooms beside the chapel, hall, and kitchen." These being judged
sufficient for the use of the Bishop, a license was granted to pull down
what was superfluous and put the rest into better condition.
However, in 1764 Bishop Terrick began a further extension and
rebuilding, and it is to him we owe the idea of the second quadrangle or
courtyard. He died too soon to complete his project, and left only the
western wing of the new courtyard, but his work was carried on by his
successor, Sherlock. The design was distinctly good, particularly for
that age of debased taste. Engravings of Sherlock's palace show
battlemented angle towers, and a recessed main building which is very
picturesque. In the southern wing he placed the library and dining-room,
and on the eastern side he made the chapel. When Bishop Howley came into
power, he set to work at once to alter the palace of his predecessors,
and replace it by something which can only be described as a block. He
levelled the frontage between the towers, and cut off the battlements,
and made the building much as we see it now, with the exception of the
modernization of some of the windows. Howley then converted the building
made for the chapel into the library, which it still remains. It
includes the famous collection of books made by Bishop Porteous. The
rooms on the south side became under Bishop Howley's modifications the
dining and drawing rooms, and the great hall he used for a chapel.
It was not until 1867, under Bishop Tait, that the present chapel was
opened. It is connected with the main building by a passage, and stands
on the river side of the palace. It was designed by Mr. Butterfield, and
is bright and well proportioned. Behind the altar at present stands a
reredos of carved wood with a representation of the Crucifixion.
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.
[Illustration: FULHAM DISTRICT.
Published by A. & C. Black, London.]
PUTNEY
BY J. C. GEIKIE.
The first mention made of Putney--styled "Putenhie" in the Conqueror's
Domesday Book, and "Puttenheth" in all subsequent records--is in
connection with the fishery and ferry which existed here at the time of
the Conquest. In 1663 the fishery was held for the three best salmon
caught in March, April, and May, but this rent was afterwards converted
to a money value. At the sale of Sir Theodore Janssen's estates the
fishery was let for £6 per annum. The rent was afterwards increased to
£8, and a lease upon those terms expired in 1780. Since 1786 this
fishery has been abandoned. Mention is also made that occasionally a
porpoise was caught here, and, as a matter of fact, two watermen shot
one here lately; but it was confiscated, and the men fined for
discharging firearms on the river. The ferry at the time of the Conquest
yielded 20s. a year to the Lord of the Manor, and Putney appears at all
times to have been a considerable thoroughfare, as it was usual formerly
for persons travelling from London to the West of England to come as far
as this by water. In Elizabeth's reign it was ordered that watermen
should pay a halfpenny for every stranger, and a farthing for every
inhabitant of Putney, to the ferry-owner, or be fined 2s. 6d. In 1629
the Lord of the Manor received 15s. per year for the ferry.