Georgian Changes at Fulham Palace

The site of Fulham Palace has been occupied for over 5,000 years, probably because of its location next to an important crossing of the Thames. From 704 AD to 1973 it was the home of the Bishop of London and is one of the oldest estates in the country.

Fulham Palace has significant Georgian elements, from Bishop Sherlock’s grand dining room block dating to the 1750s, to Bishop Terrick’s gothic style renovations and garden landscaping of the 1770s and Bishop Howley’s elegant new façade of the 1820s.

This talk will be delivered by three members of the Fulham Palace team, Alexis Haslam, community archaeologist, Roxane Burke, collections and conservation officer, and Sian Harrington, chief executive.

Sian will outline some of the previous restoration work to the Georgian elements of the building, including the restoration of Bishop Sherlock’s room in 2006-07 – an approach which is now being re-examined.  Roxane will talk about a recent research project on Georgian wallpaper removed in the 1980s from the partitions in the great hall attic. Alexis will talk about some of the exciting discoveries he made as the in-house archaeologist on the last restoration project (2017-19), which has given the Trust a much greater understanding of the people behind the various phases of remodelling at the Palace, including Bishops of London, architects and craftspeople.

Sian Harrington, chief executive, joined Fulham Palace Trust in November 2011. She holds a degree in Anthropology, an MA in Museum Studies and an MBA. She has been working in museums and heritage since her first role as a volunteer collections assistant at Durham University Oriental Museum in 1986. Previous roles have included ten years as a property manager in the National Trust, and as a curator and heritage development manager in local authority museums.

Alexis Haslam, community archaeologist, joined Fulham Palace Trust in May 2017. He holds a BA in History and is a Member of the Institute for Archaeologists. He began working in archaeology upon graduating in 2000, working his way up from a field technician to a project officer. He has directed and published numerous archaeological excavations including his most recent work ‘Tales from the Vaults and other Newington Horror Stories’. After 16 years he left Pre-Construct Archaeology to join Fulham Palace Trust and is currently working on writing up the Palace’s long and complex history for a monograph due to be published in 2024.

Roxane Burke, collections and conservation officer, started working for Fulham Palace Trust in August 2020. She holds two degrees (Physical Geography & Astronomy and Archaeology, the latter from University College London). She stayed on at UCL to gain her MA in Principles of Conservation and an MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums. She did a 10-month internship as an archaeological conservator at the Museum of London, focusing primarily on the remedial treatment of organic materials. Her previous role was as a conservation assistant working for UCL Culture repackaging and condition checking objects from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.

The talks starts at 6.30pm, doors open from 6.15pm.