Inventory Site Record

St John’s Church was built in 1827/8 on the former site of the village pond of Walham Green, a hamlet dating back to at least the C14th. The churchyard opened in 1832 and was used for some 700 burials before it closed in 1852. The cleared graveyard is now a public garden. Among the many trees are some that are old and massive, including a fine mulberry tree.

Site location:

North End Road, Walham Green

Postcode:

SW6 1PB

What 3 Words:

detect.rips.solve

Type of site:

Public Gardens

Borough:

Hammersmith & Fulham

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

7.30am - dusk

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Concerts in church

Public transport:

Tube: Fulham Broadway (District). Bus: 28, 391, 211, 295, 14, 414

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/04/2004

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.lbhf.gov.uk; www.stjohnsfulham.org

Walham Green was an old medieval hamlet mentioned in records of 1383, and like much of the manor of Fulham it was largely surrounded by market gardens, fields and orchards until the C19th and North End Road was an old country lane. All traces of the village disappeared as the area was developed, and in 1952 what had been called Walham Green station was renamed Fulham Broadway. The Swan Brewery had been built on the site of the old manor house in 1769 and the triangular village green was later built over by Broadway Buildings, the south side of the green becoming Fulham Broadway. The village green had been railed in 1721 and had stocks, a whipping post used as late as 1826 and a parish pound nearby for which there are records of stray animals impounded in the C15th. The village also had a pond until 1814 when it was filled in by the Vestry, and this later became the site for St John's Church.

St John's was built in 1827, to serve the growing population and was consecrated the following year. It could seat 1300 people and was designed by J H Taylor, although it was subsequently much altered in the 1890s and in 1988 the interior was reconfigured by the Hill Rowe Partnership. The church is surrounded by its railed churchyard, which first opened in 1832 and was closed to burial in 1852 and is now a public garden. Works undertaken in the churchyard in recent years revealed that all but 12 of the burials had coffins, a sign of the poverty of the parishioners in those years. On the pavements to the west of the church are raised beds installed in the 1990s and further pedestrianisation is proposed to the north of the churchyard.

Sources consulted:

Transport p109; Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England London 3: North West' (Penguin, 1999 ed) p233; Barbara Denny 'Fulham Past', Historical Publications Ltd, 1997; W J Drinkwater, P J Loobey and K Whitehouse, 'Fulham and Hammersmith: A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards', SB Publications, 1993

Grid ref:

TQ251773 (525170,177330)

Size in hectares:

0.15

Site ownership:

Church of England

Site management:

LBHF Environment Department, Parks Service

Date(s):

1827/8

Designer(s):

J H Taylor 9.

Listed structures:

LBII: Nos. 9-15, 17, 17a, 19 Jerdan Place; St John’s Church including railings in curtilage

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

Yes - see note below

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Other LA designation:

TPO 32/9/71 Plane (3) lime (17) Acer, Prunus, Mulberry, Malus, Hawthorn (2), Laburnum (2) Weeping Ash