Fulham is a district inside the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in southwest London. It's 3.7 miles south-west from Charing Cross, which makes it an Inner London district. It's on the north bank of the River Thames, in between Hammersmith and Kensington and Chelsea, facing Putney and Barnes. Formerly, it had been a parish within the county of Middlesex. It's identified in the London Plan as among the list of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Fulham's reputation of industrial enterprise goes back to the 15th century, with its Mill at Millshot on the south side of what is now Fulham Palace Road. There was also a pottery, tapestry-weaving, paper-making and brewing industry during the seventeenth and 18th centuries in the area of what's now known as Fulham High Street. The next two centuries had been known for power production, transportation, the automotive industry, food production and laundries.
For the first half of the 20th century, Fulham remained mostly working class with pockets of wealth in the North End, along the top of Lillie Road and New King's Road. Especially rich places were Parsons Green, Eel Brook Common, South Park and the location surrounding the Hurlingham Club. The area attracted waves of immigration, and fast changes meant that there was poverty - Charles Dickens and Charles Booth noted this, and there were poorhouses that attracted benefactors.
Today, Fulham is rated as among the most highly-priced parts of London and the UK overall. The typical sale price of all property in 2007 was £639,973 - and is likely to be a great deal more now.