As at 1990 there was a development by the local authority called Fulham Court here on Fulham Road where Ravensworth House once was. Ravensworth was a mansion built, in 1756, for John Ord sometime Master in Chancery. A contemporary, Priscilla Wakefield writes in her 'Perambulations of London' of the 'fine show' in the garden of:

'trees and plants from foreign climates but nothing so striking as a bed of moss roses measuring nearly 150 feet in circumference spread from a single stem in the centre, and spread over the ground like a carpet of the most exquisite beauty.'

An oddity of this is that both John Ord and Nathaniel Rench, who was a nurseryman a very few hundred yards away where Broomhouse lane now is, both laid claim to being the original developers of the moss rose. Ord was a famed horticulturist and Rench one of several generations of nurserymen credited with the introduction to the UK of a number of garden plants. The house was taken over by Ord's brother-in-law Lord Ravensworth who made it large enough for his 16 children and his renowned entertainments through the reign of William IV and into that of Victoria whom he entertained in 1840.

O/S Co-ords:2513.7711
Source(s):

A History of Fulham