Fulham Palace will unveil a new look this spring after raising £3.8million for restoration work. And now you can find out how the work is going at a free monthly session at the Palace.
A new museum and restoration of the Tudor courtyard and will soon be completed, giving visitors a greater insight into the palace’s heritage as the home of the Bishops of London for 1,300 years.
Meanwhile, work to make the historic site more accessible for all visitors is under way.
Work on the project – called Discovering the Bishop of London’s Palace at Fulham – launched last March, with highlights including a vision of recreating the gardens developed by Bishop Compton in the 17th and 18th centuries.
At that time, the Bishops were also responsible for the Church of England overseas, including America, the Caribbean, Africa and India, and Bishop Compton had plant specimens brought from around the world.
New beds are now being planted with trees and shrubs, while new pathways have been created through the garden, making it more accessible.
The project will also restore the Tudor Quadrangle with brickwork repaired by traditional craftspeople, while the new museum will include imaginative exhibitions drawing on the themes of the Bishop of London and the archaeology of the site.
Next phase
The next phase of work will include installing the museum exhibitions, and undertaking restoration work in the Great Hall, cross passage and porch.
Mariana Spater, chair of trustees at Fulham Palace, said: “We are delighted to have achieved our target thanks to our many individual donors, corporate donors, trusts and foundations, and the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.”
Fundraising originally began in 2015, with cash coming from a variety of sources, including the Heritage Lottery Fund awarding £1.88m of National Lottery funding, trusts and foundations giving a total of £1.05m, £606,000 in donations from individuals, and £63,000 from corporate donors.
Although the original funding target has been met, the Trust is still fundraising towards the restoration of historic paintings to be hung in the Great Hall, and for further brick repairs in the Tudor Quadrangle.
How’s it going?
To get a first hand look at how the work is developing, Fulham Palace is holding monthly sessions to meet the restoration project site manager Steven Bevan, with the next events on 10 January and 7 February.
For more details, visit: www.fulhampalace.org.
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