Craven Cottage

Craven Cottage stands beside the River Thames in Fulham, West London. It is the 19th-century home of Fulham Football Club, built on land once part of Anne Boleyn’s hunting grounds. The original lodge was constructed in 1780 by William Craven, the sixth Baron Craven, and later destroyed by fire in 1888. Before settling here in 1896, Fulham played on eight other grounds, including the grand Ranelagh House. The site was so overgrown when first chosen that clearing it took two years. The ground has hosted England football and rugby league internationals, including a record 49,335 fans for a 1938 match against Millwall. Archibald Leitch, the Scottish architect behind Ibrox Stadium, designed the present-day Cottage and the Johnny Haynes Stand in 1905. Both structures remain Grade II listed examples of his work. The stadium also saw the 1948 Olympic football games and witnessed one of English football’s fastest hat-tricks, scored in under three minutes by Graham Leggat. Visitors find the Johnny Haynes Stand and the Cottage itself still standing in Leitch’s red-brick style. The Riverside Stand, once named after director Eric Miller, now overlooks the Thames where fans once turned to watch The Boat Race. Pelé and Eusébio played friendly matches here, and the ground holds memories of rugby league crowds reaching 15,013. The riverside setting and historic architecture make it a place where football history meets the flowing water of the Thames.