Bishops Park is a park in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

, 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 kn ...

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 In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

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 The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

from

All Saints church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania * All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Aus ...

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 th ...

and

Fulham Football club Fulham Football Club is an English professional association football, football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whil ...

. 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 Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

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, 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 Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...

; the river wall was built between 1889 and 1893 by Joseph Mears, the father of Chelsea F.C. 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 m ...

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 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. A further sculpture, ''Affection'', a mother and child by Joseph Hermon Cawthra, 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