Fulham Palace was the country home of the Bishops of London for nearly 1,300 years — from the early 8th century until 1973 — and today it’s one of London’s genuinely under-visited free attractions: a Grade I listed Tudor courtyard, a Victorian chapel, and 13 acres of botanic garden beside the Thames, all with no admission charge at all. It’s a rare thing in London: a site with the architectural pedigree of a stately home, entirely free to explore, and quiet enough that you can usually have whole corners of the garden to yourself.

History of Fulham Palace

The Bishops of London and the Longest Moat in England

The site’s connection to the Church goes back to 704, when the Bishop of London, Waldhere, acquired the Manor of Fulham — at the time a much larger estate stretching across what’s now Hammersmith, Acton, Ealing and Finchley. It became known as a “palace,” despite never being an official royal residence, because medieval bishops were regarded as “princes of the Church” in their own right. In the early medieval period, roughly 36 acres of the site were enclosed by a moat first recorded as a “great ditch” in 1392 — by some accounts the longest domestic moat in England, and reputedly one of the largest moated residences in Europe during the later Middle Ages.

The moat survived for centuries, but rising maintenance costs eventually caught up with it: despite public protest, it was permanently drained and filled in between 1921 and 1924. Its outline can still be traced in the landscape today, and an archaeological excavation of the moat began in 2010 as part of a wider £8 million restoration of the palace and adjoining Bishop’s Park.

The Tudor Courtyard

The oldest surviving part of the palace is the Tudor Great Hall and Courtyard, built under Bishop Fitzjames around 1495 — dendrochronological analysis of the timbers in the courtyard gate and hall roof shows the trees were felled between 1493 and 1495, during the reign of Henry VII. The Great Hall served multiple functions over the centuries, doubling as a banqueting hall, a courtroom, and at times even a chapel. The courtyard is entered through ancient oak gates and has changed remarkably little since the 16th century, aside from the addition of a clock in the 18th century; the bell itself is older still, cast around 1676 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the same foundry that later cast Big Ben.

Royal visitors called on the bishops here over the centuries, including King Henry VI around 1449, Queen Elizabeth I in 1601, and King George III, who reportedly stopped by for a simple breakfast in the mid-18th century.

Fulham Palace Chapel

The current chapel is the fourth known place of worship on the site — the first, a medieval chapel dating to the early 13th century, was demolished in 1764, though its outline occasionally still shows as parchmarks on the lawn just outside the café during dry summers. The present chapel was designed by the architect William Butterfield for Bishop Tait and consecrated in 1867, built on the site of the palace’s former medieval kitchens. It was originally a striking mix of multicoloured brick and mosaic in Butterfield’s characteristic Gothic Revival style, though much of that polychrome decoration has since been painted over and simplified.

The chapel suffered bomb damage during the Second World War and required significant restoration afterwards; its Salviati mosaic reredos depicting the Nativity was relocated to the west wall as part of that work, and murals by Brian Thomas along with a stained glass window by Ninian Comper were both added in 1953 to complete the post-war restoration.

The Bishops Leave, and the Trust Takes Over

By the mid-20th century, the scale of the estate had become too expensive for the Church to maintain as a private residence. Bishop Robert Stopford was the final Bishop of London to live at Fulham Palace, departing in 1973 for a smaller residence near St Paul’s. In 1975, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham leased the palace and grounds from the Church Commissioners for 100 years, opening the garden to the public the following year. The council ran the site directly until April 2011, when the independent charity Fulham Palace Trust was formed and took over day-to-day management — the Trust has since led a series of major restoration projects, including a £3.8 million programme completed in recent years that restored the Tudor courtyard and historic rooms and created new beds in the botanic garden.

Fulham Palace Meadows Allotments

One of the palace estate’s more distinctive features sits just outside the garden itself: the Fulham Palace Meadows Allotments, a working community allotment site covering land the Bishop of London gifted for exactly this purpose in 1916, originally to support the First World War “Dig for Victory” campaign. Today the site holds more than 400 individual plots, run entirely by volunteers through the Fulham Palace Meadows Allotment Association, and remains protected from development as part of the wider Scheduled Ancient Monument covering the historic moated site — the allotments themselves sit on land of genuine Anglo-Saxon archaeological importance.

The allotments have their own separate entrance on Bishop’s Avenue, opposite the tennis courts, rather than being accessed through the main palace grounds, and demand for a plot is genuinely high — the waiting list currently runs to somewhere between five and ten years. They’re not generally open for casual visitors to wander through, but they’re a genuinely interesting piece of the site’s living history, and one most visitors to the palace and garden never realise is there.

Visiting Fulham Palace: Practical Information

Verified against the official Fulham Palace Trust website, checked 5 September 2026.

Fulham Palace Opening Times

The wider grounds are open dawn to dusk, every day, entirely free. The museum and historic rooms keep more specific hours: 10.30am to 5pm daily, with last entry at 4.30pm — admission is free, though booking a free timeslot online in advance is recommended over simply turning up, since some rooms occasionally close for private events. The Drawing Room café opens daily from 9.30am to 4pm.

As Fulham Palace Trust is an independent charity that receives no government funding and relies partly on private event hire to stay free and open to the public, it’s worth checking the Trust’s ticketing platform a week or so ahead of your visit if you have a specific room in mind, since occasional partial closures for weddings and private functions do happen.

Fulham Palace Parking

There is no general on-site parking at Fulham Palace. Metered pay-and-display bays are available on Bishop’s Avenue itself (Controlled Parking Zone Y), and these are usually the most practical option if you’re driving. A single accessible parking bay for Blue Badge holders only is available within the Palace’s own gated car park, but it must be arranged in advance — call the visitor services line and press 4 for the museum to provide your vehicle’s registration, make and model, and the date of your visit.

Given the limited and metered parking, arriving by public transport is genuinely the easier option for most visitors, particularly since the palace sits within comfortable walking distance of a well-connected Underground station.

Getting There by Tube

Putney Bridge station (District line) is the nearest stop, with the palace reached by a pleasant roughly 15-minute walk through Bishop’s Park along the Thames Path — leave the station, head down Ranelagh Gardens, turn left onto Fulham High Street, then right onto Willow Bank and through the subway under Putney Bridge to pick up the riverside path. Alternatively, back gates through the All Saints churchyard are open 10.15am to 4.15pm daily for a slightly shorter approach.

Fulham Palace Christmas Fair

Each year, typically in late November, Fulham Palace hosts its annual Christmas Fair — an indoor and marquee-based market spread across the historic rooms, the main drive and a marquee, with stalls from local small businesses selling food, crafts and gifts, alongside carol singers, storytelling and face painting for children. A separate garden stall run by the Palace’s own gardeners and volunteers sells handmade wreaths and preserves, and the museum shop stays open too, with all proceeds supporting the Trust’s charitable work. Exact 2026 dates are confirmed closer to the event on the Trust’s own website, so it’s worth checking there rather than assuming a previous year’s dates will repeat exactly.

Fulham Palace Light Trail

Running alongside the Christmas Fair each winter is the London Illuminated Light Trail, a ticketed, after-dark walk through the illuminated botanic garden, organised by external partner Remarkable Events rather than the Trust itself. For 2026, the trail begins on Friday 20 November, with standard prices around £14.95 for adults and £6.95 for children aged 3 to 15. Expect thousands of lights through the 13-acre garden, fire pits for toasting marshmallows, food and mulled wine stalls, and live performances including circus acts and a magician. Since this is a separate, timed, ticketed event rather than general admission, booking is done through the Remarkable Events site rather than Fulham Palace’s own booking system.

Fulham Palace Apple Day

Each autumn, the Palace celebrates Apple Day, an annual harvest festival marking the produce grown in its historic walled garden. For 2026, Apple Day falls on Sunday 4 October, and it’s genuinely worth knowing in advance that the entire site requires ticketed entry for this one day — the back gates through the churchyard are closed, and all visitors must use the main entrance on Bishop’s Avenue instead. It’s one of the busiest days in the Trust’s calendar and a good example of how a normally free, walk-up site can occasionally require pre-planning around specific event dates.

Jazz on the Lawn

Through the summer months, Fulham Palace’s main lawn hosts Jazz on the Lawn, an outdoor concert series run in partnership with the 606 Club, London’s long-running Chelsea jazz venue. Ticket-holders can bring their own blanket or a low, non-damaging chair (furniture that could dig into the historic lawn isn’t permitted, since it sits on ground of genuine archaeological significance), and the shows go ahead rain or shine. It’s a genuinely pleasant, low-key way to experience the grounds outside normal visiting hours, and tickets are sold directly through the 606 Club rather than the Palace’s own site.

How Long to Allow

An hour is enough for a quick look at the Tudor courtyard and a walk around the main lawn, but 2 to 3 hours lets you properly cover the museum, the historic rooms, the walled garden and a slower walk along the riverside path through neighbouring Bishop’s Park.

Accessibility

The museum, historic rooms, café and garden are all wheelchair accessible, with a step-free route available for manual wheelchairs, buggies and visitors with mobility difficulties (a separate map exists for larger motorised wheelchairs, given some tighter points on site). The main entrance runs through the drive into the Tudor courtyard on one level, though there are cobblestones at the archway entrance itself, and a small number of steps exist in the house’s main corridor.

Managing Body

Fulham Palace remains owned by the Church of England but has been managed since 2011 by the independent charity Fulham Palace Trust, which receives no government funding and relies on café, shop, event hire and donation income to keep the site free and open to the public.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the opening times for Fulham Palace?

The grounds are open dawn to dusk daily, free of charge. The museum and historic rooms are open 10.30am to 5pm daily, last entry 4.30pm, also free.

Is there parking at Fulham Palace?

No general on-site parking is available. Metered bays exist on Bishop’s Avenue, and one Blue Badge accessible bay can be arranged in advance by phone.

What are the Fulham Palace Meadows Allotments?

A working community allotment site of over 400 plots on land gifted by the Bishop of London in 1916, run by volunteers, sitting on a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a separate entrance from the main palace grounds.

When is Fulham Palace’s Apple Day?

Apple Day 2026 falls on Sunday 4 October. The entire site requires ticketed entry that day, and the back gates through the churchyard are closed.

What is the Fulham Palace chapel?

The fourth chapel on the site, designed by William Butterfield and consecrated in 1867 for Bishop Tait, built on the site of the palace’s former medieval kitchens.

Fulham Palace pairs naturally with a wider riverside walk taking in Bishop’s Park and the Thames Path. Browse the full Castles & Historic Attractions collection for more of England’s historic houses, and see our England guide for the wider country this history belongs to.