Bishops Park is a park in Fulham, West London. The park was opened by the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

in 1893, on land given by the

Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Chu ...

. It is listed Grade II on the register of parks and gardens of special historic interest maintained by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. The park runs north of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

from All Saints church along a broad tree-lined avenue and an embankment path along the river, and ends at Bishop's Park Road. It contains tennis courts and bowling greens, with another small park area fronting Fulham Palace Road. It is adjacent to

Fulham Palace Fulham Palace, in Fulham, London, previously in the former English county of Middlesex, is a Grade I listed building with medieval origins and was formerly the principal residence of the Bishop of London. The site was the country home of the ...

and Fulham Football club. A memorial to members of the

International Brigade The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existe ...

who volunteered to fight in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

has been located within the park since 1997. The park has a poolside beach and facilities for basketball, tennis, table tennis, lawn bowling and skating, and hosts a farmers' market.

History

The park was formally opened by

Sir John Hutton Sir John Hutton (14 October 1841 – 31 May 1903) was a publisher and Chairman of the London County Council between 1892 and 1895. Career Hutton was a proprietor and publisher of various newspapers and journals, including the Eclipse, Sporting L ...

, chairman of the LCC, in 1893. It included land known as Bishop's Walk, Bishop's Meadow and West Meadow, formerly owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as Lords of the Manor of Fulham which had been given to the Fulham District Board of Works on condition that it be laid out and maintained for public recreation. The meadows had already been protected from flooding by the creation of an embankment; the river wall was built between 1889 and 1893 by Joseph Mears, the father of

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...

founders

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

and

Gus Mears Henry Augustus "Gus" Mears (1873 – 4 February 1912)Brian Belton, ''Birth of the Blues'', Pennant Books, 2008, . was an English businessman, most notable for founding Chelsea Football Club. He was born in 1873, the son of Joseph and Charl ...

. In 1894 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners sold Fulham Vestry the house of Pryors Bank (then called Vine Cottage) and its gardens. The house was demolished in 1897 and replaced by a Pseudo-Tudo refreshment pavilion, but the gardens were preserved and opened as an extension of Bishops Park in 1900 after extension of the river walk. They contain four 1940s sculptures titled ''Adoration'', ''Protection'', ''Grief'' and ''Leda'', presented in 1953 by sculptor James Wedgwood as a commemoration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. A further sculpture, ''Affection'', a mother and child by

Joseph Hermon Cawthra Joseph Hermon Cawthra (1886–1971), was an English monumental sculptor. During his lifetime he was considered among the leading classical sculptors working in Britain and received several commissions for public monuments, war memorials and arch ...

, was added in 1963; both sculptors had studios in the area. The park was expanded again in 1903. Scenes from the 1976 horror film ''

The Omen ''The Omen'' is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Spen ...

'' were shot on location in the park. After a successful lottery funding bid in February 2011, the park underwent a major restoration project with almost the entire site being altered and modernised.

References

External links

* {{Green London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Fulham