Church Heritage Record 623190

Rectangular plan with nave and chancel in one and semi-circular west baptistery. North-east tower with belfry. South Lady Chapel leading through to hall extending from south-east corner. Former boiler room beneath Chapel.

[Approximate] Nave 24m (79ft) x 13m (43ft), chancel 5m (16ft).

Fulham is first recorded in 704-5 AD when it was acquired by the Bishop of London. The area was to become the Manor of Fulham and later the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. 

To the south of the church is the former Bishop’s Palace, a moated site and Scheduled Ancient Monument which today sits within the grounds of Bishop’s Park. Excavations have uncovered Neolithic pottery and flint implements, evidence of Iron Age occupation and Romano-British finds.  The first, Saxon palace, is likely to have been positioned to the west of the surviving palace building.

The first church on this site was built 1896-7 designed by Arthur Henry Skipworth (d.1907) and extended to the east a few years later. The church suffered from bomb damage during WWII though the hall (built as a mission church in 1895) and vicarage, both to the south, survived. The decision was made to demolish the church and a new church was designed and built by Guy Biscoe 1955-8. A date stone in the north elevation of the tower records these dates. Land to the east of the east wall may contain the foundations and crypt of the original church.

In 1993-4 the old mission hall was demolished and sheltered housing built on the land, whilst a hall was built to the south-east corner above and around the existing Lady Chapel and vestries. The extension was designed by Maxwell New of Maxwell New and Partners.

The site is of some archaeological potential given that it is the second church on the site, and also the proximity to Fulham Palace. There are many archaeological finds recorded within a kilometre of the site and Historic Environment Records should be referred to before any works involving ground disturbance are undertaken. There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot, though it contains mature trees and falls within the boundaries of a conservation area.

The church is aligned with Fulham Palace Road, a long straight road on which the tall north tower forms a focal point. The elevation facing the road is flat and presents a solid brick façade, which does not give away the impressive nature of the interior.

The church consists of 8-bay nave and chancel under one shallow-pitched, aluminium-clad roof. The north wall is of virtually unbroken brick, the bays marked by concrete columns in place of buttresses, and the brickwork broken by the regular insertion of cross-shaped glass bricks. A prominent north-east tower has a semi-open belfry. To the east of the tower, the north chancel wall is glazed in square panels. The south-wall is glazed from dado to eaves with steel-framed windows. Discrete cast-iron rain-pipes.

Projecting from the base of the gabled west elevation is a low semi-circular baptistery with tall glazed panels, between two porches with glazed access doors. A crucifix is fixed to the wall above, and a metal cross finial surmounts the apex. The gabled east elevation is again of solid brick with a fixed crucifix and metal finial above the apex. An attached modern brick hall wraps around the south-east corner with a cat-slide roof cutting across the east elevation.

The interior is accessed through porches at the west end (tiled with geometric patterned tiles) though there is also access through the hall (to east) and the Lady Chapel (to south). The space is surprisingly light given the external street-side appearance, due to the large expanse of glass on the south elevation. A complete ensemble of original fixtures and fittings creates an impressive appearance.

Bays, which are suggested externally by vertical concrete shafts, are far more obvious internally with giant transverse concrete arches rising from ground to ceiling. At ground level, narrow aisles are cut through the spans of concrete. The nave floor is of one level and paved with small granwood tiles. It is seated with unfixed benches. The walls are of exposed brick. Big floodlights and spotlights. Overhead the ceiling is formed of cast plaster coffers painted blue and red. A door in the north-east corner accesses the tower, with a flower room in the base.

At the west end a balcony with stairs to either side supports the organ and choirstalls. It projects out in a curve and has cork floor tiles. Beneath it the baptistery, which is circular in plan with low railings and mosaic pillars, is sunk by three steps. A circular area around the font is raised and the floor is laid in mosaic tiles.

At the east end, the shallow sanctuary is raised by a single step which curves out towards the nave. The space is side-lit with glazing to north and south. That to the south, previously an external space, is sandwiched between glazing adjoining the modern upstairs hall. The sanctuary floor is paved in mosaic. The plastered east wall is painted blue and a huge wooden crucifix is fixed to the wall which dominates the interior. The altar is raised by three steps. Two contemporary lanterns are suspended either side. Fixed to the east wall is an aumbry on one side, and on the other is a niche forming the piscina.

To the south, behind glazing and on the same level, is the Lady Chapel (there is a former boiler room beneath it used for storage). The walls are timber-clad and the ceiling is formed of acoustic panels. A sliding wood door to the south leads through to the vestries and, since the 1990s, also the hall which is in an upstairs room. There is a lift to the upper floor.