Fulham Palace was the home of the Bishops of London for the best part of a thousand years, from the eleventh century until 1973, and the bishops held the manor of Fulham from as far back as AD 704. It is a Grade I listed building and an unexpectedly rural one, sitting on the north bank of the Thames a few minutes from Putney Bridge with 13 acres of garden wrapped around it. Its moat, now filled in but a scheduled ancient monument beneath the lawns, ran nearly nine tenths of a mile and was the largest domestic moated site in medieval England.
The building is a lovely mongrel of periods. The Tudor courtyard and the Great Hall date from the 1480s and 1490s — tree-ring analysis puts the felling of the oak in the springs of 1493 and 1495 — while the east courtyard is Georgian, Bishop Terrick added a Gothic flourish in the late eighteenth century and Bishop Tait built the chapel in 1866 and 1867. Three phases of restoration between 2006 and 2019, costing around £11 million, have brought the whole thing properly back into use, and it is free to visit, which tells you how confident the place feels about itself.
The gardens deserve a paragraph of their own. This is the second oldest botanic garden in London, begun behind Bishop Grindal’s walls in the sixteenth century and stocked in the seventeenth by Bishop Compton, who brought American species including magnolia and azalea into this country through it. The walled garden, the lawns and the ancient trees give you a set of backdrops that look nothing like the capital. Four rooms are licensed for civil ceremonies and the chapel is available for blessings, the Tudor courtyard is licensed for marrying outdoors, and there is a marquee in the walled garden for larger numbers. Catering is done in house, there is a licensed bar, and the palace seats up to 250 for a meal.
Where the band plays
The Great Hall and the Georgian drawing rooms give you a choice of moods: the hall is the more dramatic room, the drawing rooms the more intimate, and both will take a dance floor. Live music and discos are permitted and the palace is thoroughly used to them. In a Grade I listed interior the sensible approach is a band that arrives with a compact rig and an engineer who will run it properly — a five-piece with a well-managed PA fills these rooms beautifully. If your numbers push beyond what the house comfortably holds, the marquee in the walled garden is the easier room for a bigger line-up.
How the evening runs
Access to the palace generally starts at 10am on the day, and receptions run to midnight with a 1am extension available if you want the night to stretch — both worth confirming with the events team when you book, along with any earlier limit on amplified music, since a riverside site with neighbours often has one. Tell your band the real finish time rather than the licence time and they will plan their sets around it. Fireworks are not permitted, candles are restricted to the marquee, and confetti needs to be biodegradable. Load-in and parking are worth discussing in advance too: this is central London, and a band with drums and a PA will want to know exactly where to pull up.
Bands available in London and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in London.
- Wedding Bands in London
- Events Bands in London
- London Tribute Acts
- London Wedding DJs
- London Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.