Pryor's Bank, Fulham, was a large house rebuilt in 1828 in the gothic taste by a couple of antiquaries using architectural salvage from the demolition of Winchester House in Broad Street, Westminster. Pryor's, described at the time as a 'secondhand Strawberry Hill', was built on the banks of the Thames close to Craven Cottage, built in 1780, and now famously the name for the grounds of Fulham football club.
 
Craven Cottage was a cottage orné built for Lord Craven in 1780 and acquired by Walsh Porter, an Irish gentleman dealer, who enlarged it in 1805 with the help of the young Thomas Hopper. Walsh Porter, became a design confidante of the Prince Regent after he attended soirées the cottage. Subsequently Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author and owner of Knebworth House, wrote his best-selling historical romance The Last Days of Pompeii at Craven Cottage and the exiled Napoleon III lived there before it burnt down in 1888.
 
In 1806 at the Prince's London palace at Carlton House, newly refurbished by Henry Holland, Prince George employed Walsh Porter to redecorate the saloon in the Etruscan style, John Nash to build a fancy gothic dining room, and Thomas Hopper to erect a spectacular gothic conservatory with stained glass to the fan vaulting. Carlton House, which had been the architectural talk of London, was demolished in 1827.
 
Walsh Porter bought Vine Cottage, next to Fulham church, a short distance from Craven Cottage, and enlarged it with theatrical decor including a rocky entrance called the robber's cave, a bedroom built as a lion's den, and a dining room resembling a small scale Tintern Abbey. He then sold Vine Cottage to Lady Hawarden, and then to William Holmes MP, who sold again to Thomas Baylis and Lechmere Whitmore, both members of the Society of Antiquaries, who added an extra storey and renamed it The Pryor's Bank.
 
Before its demolition, old Winchester House had for many years been used as warehouses and was, by 1839, practically falling down. Its materials were put up for auction and bought by Thomas Baylis.
 
A friend of Baylis and Whitmore, Thomas Croker wrote:
 
Nestling in trees beneath the old tower of Fulham Church, which has been judiciously restored by Mr. George Godwin, there may be seen from Putney Bridge a remarkable group of houses, the most conspicuous of which will be conjectured from a passing glance to belong to the Gothic tribe.  This house, which has been a pet kind of place of the Strawberry Hill class, is called the Pryor's Bank, and its history can be told in much less than one hundredth part of the space that a mere catalogue of the objects of interest which it has contained would occupy.  In fact, the whole edifice, from the kitchen to the bedrooms, was a few years since a museum, arranged with a view to pictorial effect; and if it had been called "The Museum of British Antiquities" it would have been found worthy of the name.
 
The situation of this humble residence having attracted the fancy of Mr. Walsh Porter, he purchased it, raised the building by an additional story, replaced its latticed casements by windows of coloured glass, and fitted the interior with grotesque embellishments and theatrical decorations. 
 
The entrance hall was called the robber's cave, for it was constructed of material made to look like large projecting rocks, with a winding staircase, and mysterious in-and-out passages.  One of the bedrooms was called, not inaptly, the lion's den.  The dining-room represented, on a small scale, the ruins of Tintern Abbey; and here Mr. Porter had frequently the honour of receiving and entertaining George IV., when Prince of Wales. 
 
It was then called Vine Cottage, [213] and having been disposed of by Mr. Porter, became, in 1813, the residence of Lady Hawarden; and, subsequently, of William Holmes, Esq., M.P., who sold it to Mr. Baylis and Mr. Lechmere Whitmore about 1834. The cottage was replaced by a modern antique house. Mr. Baylis being a zealous antiquary, his good taste induced him to respect neglected things, when remarkable as works of art, and inspired him and his friend Mr. Whitmore with the wish to collect and preserve some of the many fine specimens of ancient manufacture that had found their way into this country from the Continent, as well as to rescue from destruction relics of Old England … the monuments and carvings which had been removed from dilapidated churches …
 
As Horace Walpole's villa was celebrated by the Earl of Bath, so the charms of the Pryor's Bank have been sung in "the last new ballad on the Fulham regatta"- -a jeu d'esprit circulated at an entertainment given by the hospitable owners in 1843:- -
 
"Strawberry Hill has pass'd away,
Every house must have its day;
So in antiquarian rank
Up sprung here the Pryor's Bank,
Full of glorious tapestry,- -
Full as well as house can be:
And of carvings old and quaint,
Relics of some mitr'd saint,
'Tis- -I hate to be perfidious- -
'Tis a house most sacrilegious.
 
Glorious, glowing painted glass,
What its beauty can surpass?
Shrines bedeck'd with gems we see,
Overhung by canopy
Of embroider'd curtains rare- -
Wondrous works of[…]"
Into it to rudely pry.
 
Here some niche or cabinet
Full of rarities is set;
Here some picture- -'precious bit'- -
There's no time to dwell on it;
Bronzes, china- -all present
Each their own sweet blandishment.
But what makes our pleasure here,
Is our welcome and our cheer;
So I'll not say one bit more,- -
Long live Baylis and Whitmore!
 
I would endeavour to convey some idea of the Pryor's Bank and its now dispersed treasures as they were in 1840 … but before entering the house, I would call attention to a quiet walk along the garden-terrace … let us not stop to see or admire anything, until we reach the balusters which protect the northern termination of the terrace, how many thoughts do they conjure up in the mind!  These balusters belonged to the main staircase of Winchester House. 
 
Do you remember Winchester House in Broad Street, in the good city of London, the residence of "the loyal Paulets?"  Perhaps not. There is, however, a print of its last appearance in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for April, 1839, and by which you will at once identify this summer-house as the bay-window of the principal apartment.  Indeed the editor tells you that 'the greater part of the remaining ornamental wood-work has been purchased by Thomas Baylis, Esq., F.S.A., who is fitting up with it the kitchen and some of the new rooms of his house, Pryor's Bank, Fulham.'
 
It is gratifying to know that many of the panes of glass which bore that glorious yellow letter motto in Winchester House, at the period when it was doomed to be taken down, are preserved, having been with good taste presented to the present Marquis of Winchester; and two or three which were overlooked have come into the possession of Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence.  But much of the diamond-shaped glass in this bay-window, as it stood upon the terrace of the Pryor's Bank, was ancient, and very curious.  You could not fail to remark the quaint window-latch, termed 'a Turn Buckle.'
 
Had we time to linger here, how amusing it might be to attempt to decipher the monograms, and names, and verses inscribed upon the various lozenge-shaped panes of glass, which practically exemplified the phrase of "diamond cut diamond."
 
The fragments of the old Royal Exchange, with a Burmese cross-legged idol perched thereon - the urn to the memory of 'Poor Banquo' … we enter the outer hall or passage, wainscoted with oak and lined above with arras, separated from the inner hall by an oak screen, which was usually guarded upon gala nights by most respectable "Beef-eaters," who required the production of invitation cards from all visitors … But I cannot allow you to examine so closely that curiously carved oak chimney-piece in the inner hall, although I admit that it may be as early as Henry VIII's time.
 
Where shall we begin?  You wish to inspect everything.  Suppose, then, we commence with the kitchen, and steam it upstairs to the dormitories, going at the rate of a high-pressure engine. You are already aware that the kitchen was panelled with oak from the drawing-room of Winchester House, and now you see the whole style of fitting-up accords with that of 'bygone days'. Look, for instance, towards the kitchen window, and you will find that the various cupboards, presses and dressers- -even the cooking utensils- -correspond; but, although modern improvements have not been lost sight of, antique forms have been retained. 
 
The old English plate was a square piece of wood, which indeed is not quite obsolete at the present hour.  The improvement upon this primitive plate was a circular platter, with a raised edge; but there were also thin, circular, flat plates of beech-wood in use for the dessert or confection, and they were gilt and painted upon one side, and inscribed with pious, or instructive, or amorous mottoes, suited to the taste of the society in which they were produced.  Such circular plates are now well known to antiquaries under the name of "roundels," and were at one time generally supposed by them to have been used as cards for fortune-telling, or playing with at questions and answers.  More sober research into their origin and use shows that they were painted and decorated with conventional patterns by nuns, who left blank spaces for the mottoes, to be supplied by the more learned.
 
If you like, we will return to the inner hall and from it at once enter the library, or breakfast-room.  Here there is a superbly carved Elizabethan chimney-piece
 
What are you about?  You should not have touched so thoughtlessly that 'brass inkstand', as you call it. It is actually a pix, or holy box, which once contained the host, and was considered 'so sacred, that upon the march of armies it was especially prohibited from theft'. We are told that Henry V delayed his army for a whole day to discover the thief who had stolen one. 
 
We must enter the dining-room.  Here sit down in this monastic chair, and look around you for five minutes.  This chair Mr. Baylis picked up in Lincoln; and the curtains beside it, they came from Strawberry Hill, and are of genuine Spitalfields damask.  There is no such damask to be had now.  Eighty years ago were these curtains manufactured, and yet they are in most excellent condition.  The greater portion of the Gothic oak panelling around us originally formed the back of the stalls in the beautiful chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford.  During the late repairs this panelling was removed and sold.  Much of it was purchased by the Marquess of Salisbury for Hatfield House, and the remainder Mr. Baylis bought.  More of the oak panelling in the room, especially the elaborately-wrought specimens and the rich tracery work, have been obtained from Canterbury Cathedral, York Minster, St. Mary's Coventry, and other churches.
 
The chimney-piece is a rich composition of ancient carving; the canopy came from St. Michael's Church, Coventry, and in the niches are some fine figures of the kings and queens of England. The fire-back is an interesting relic, as it is the original one placed in the great dining-hall of Burghley House, by Elizabeth's minister, whose arms are upon it, with the date 1575. 
 
As for the other relics in the dining-room, I will only particularise two or three more; and they are a pair of round and solid well-carved pendents from the chancel of the church history I cannot tell you, but it resembles in execution the exquisite Gothic figures in the chimney-piece of the town-hall at Bruges, and is of about the same height and size.
 
Are you willing to forsake the thoughtful soberness of antique oak-panelling for the tinsel of Venetian gold and the richness of Genoa velvet, Florentine tapestry, and Persian arras?  If so, we will ascend to the drawing-rooms and gallery.  But stay a moment and permit this lady and oddly-dressed gentleman to pass us on their exit from the gallery, where they have been rehearsing some charming entertainment for the evening, or getting up some piece of fanciful mummery to amuse the idle guests who have congregated around the garden fountain.  The light is not favourable for seeing all the pictures that deserve inspection on the staircase - you had better ascend; and now, having reached the head of the semi-staircase, our course is along this lobby to the opposite door-way, which is that of the drawing-room.
 
Let us enter at once, and in our tour of the Pryor's Bank regard the ante-drawing-room as a kind of middle or passage-room belonging either to the gallery or the drawing-room.  I admit that the arrangement of the house, which, however, is very simple, appears puzzling at first: the reason of this is, that the senses are often deceived, from mirrors here and there being so judiciously arranged, that they reflect at happy angles objects which would otherwise escape observation.  It is impossible to convey an idea of the whole effect of the Pryor's Bank, made up as it has been of carvings of unrivalled richness, grace, and variety, solemn and grotesque.
 
Statues are there, some of the highest class of art, others which belong to an early Gothic period, and yet an harmonious effect has been produced.  Where will you take up your position for a general view?  At the other end? or in the oriel window looking on the Bishop's Walk?
 
Now if it were not for that richly gilt Venetian table, the companion to which is in the possession of the Earl of Harrington, we might have an excellent view of that magnificently embellished recess, upon the merits of which Mr. Baylis is commenting to another oddly equipped gentleman.  There certainly is something going forward in the fancy-dress way.
 
Baylis and Whitmore sold Pryor's Bank in 1841 to another antiquary and the contents of were sold off in a six-day auction on 3 May 1841, followed on 25 May 1854 by a three day auction for the remainder. The house passed to Lady Coape, and then was bought by the vestry. The house was demolished in 1900 due to its dangerous structural condition.
 
The long excerpt above, and the illustration of the turnbuckle, are from "A Walk from London to Fulham by Thomas Croker, 1860.