Bishops Park is a park in

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

, West London. The park was opened by the

London County Council The 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 ...

in 1893, on land given by the

Church Commissioners The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

. It is listed

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. 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, s ...

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 lies on the north bank of the River Thames in Fulham, London, previously in the former English county of Middlesex. It is the site of the Manor of Fulham dating back to Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Saxon times and in the c ...

and Fulham Football club. A memorial to members of the

International Brigade The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigades existed for two ...

who volunteered to fight in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

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

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

as Lord of the Manor of Fulham, and administered by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It had been given over 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 a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

founders

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "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 modern-day Nordic count ...

and

Gus Mears Henry Augustus 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 Charlott ...

. 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 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. 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 Sp ...

'' were shot on location in the park. After a successful lottery funding bid in February 2011, the park underwent a major restoration project, when it lost its Victorian

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...

, with almost the entire site being modernised.

References

External links

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