The Gardens
The gardens of Fulham Palace are amongst the most important in the country. They were once enclosed by the longest moat in England, though sadly this was infilled in 1924.
Bishop Grindal sent grapes grown at Fulham to Queen Elizabeth I and the gardens became famous in the seventeenth century when Bishop Compton imported rare species from Virginia, such as the magnolia, and grew them in Europe for the first time. Although none of his original plants survive, many fine specimens can be found including an ancient holm oak and a number of recently-introduced, rare, botanical trees and shrubs.
Today the gardens include woodland, meadow, lawns and an 18th-century walled garden – a secret spot with a knot garden of herbs, a wisteria pergola and orchard.
When visiting the gardens you will come across the Bishops’ Tree. The Bishops’ Tree was carved by Andrew Frost – an accomplished environmental sculptor based in Derbyshire. The bishops have been carved out of cedarwood and applied to the tall trunk of a Cedar of Lebanon on the Palace’s north lawn. The sculpture was commissioned by a local lady, Dolores Moorhouse, in memory of her late husband, Peter, and the special times they shared with their family at the Palace. The proud Bishop stood on the top is Bishop Porteus (Bishop of London from 1787-1809). You can see his portrait in the Museum. He was a campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade and left his collection of books to create the library at which he is staring. The bookish-looking Bishop that has managed to climb half way up is Bishop Creighton (Bishop from 1897-1901). He was an important historian. You can see his portrait in the stained glass of the east window of the Chapel. The fierce Bishop at the foot of the trunk is Bishop Bonner (a Catholic, he was Bishop twice during the Reformation from 1540-50 & 1553-59). During Queen Mary’s reign he kept some Protestants imprisoned at the Palace, and is alleged to have tortured them there. The oak bench shows a napping Bishop Compton (Bishop from 1675-1713). He made the Palace gardens famous by importing new plants from overseas, especially from Virginia. Today he takes a well-earned rest after a morning's botany and a very long lunch.
To the rear of the walled garden is the Palace's meadow. This large area of former wilderness has been restored by the Palace's gardeners and volunteers. During the course of the last three years great swathes of bramble, nettles and self-seeded sycamores have been removed. The ground was tilled and left fallow to remove weeds and in the spring of 2009 it was sown with a mix of wild flowers specially selected to grow in fertile soil. The meadow will not only be a riot of colour from spring through summer each year, but it will also be a great improvement to the Palace's local ecology.
Currently, the gardens also provide the setting for a year-long exhibition of kinetic sculptures by Peter Logan, whose works are grafted onto the stumps of trees lost to the great hurricane of 1988. Six sculptures have been installed in the first phase; others will appear with each new season. Constructed from aluminium and stainless and corten steel, the sculptures are engineered to respond to the gentlest breeze. For details see www.peter-logan.com
The gardens are open daily from dawn to dusk.