Aragon House, Fulham

This is a Grade II listed building built 1805-6. Historic England reference 1286614. Reputed locally at least to have been the site of a home of Catherine of Aragon after the death of her first husband Arthur, Prince of Wales, in 1506 until her subsequent marriage to Henry VIII in 1509, hence the name. From Freda Roll's 'The Pomegranate and the Rose: the story of Katharine of Aragon' it is known that 'she lived in Durham House for almost four years, though sometimes she was invited to court. From letters she and the Spanish ambassador wrote, we know she was at various times at Greenwich, Ewelme, Woodstock, Richmond, Westminster, Eltham and Fulham.' Another biographer, Amy Licence, in 'Catherine of Aragon: An Intimate Life of Henry VIII's True Wife', writes that by the end of October 1506 'she was ill again and Henry offered her the use of a house in Fulham, so that she might be nearer court if it would help her improve.' In the 18th century a villa on this site was the home of the novelist Samuel Richardson, from 1756 'til his death in 1761. Author of Pamela (1740), Clarissa (1747 and 1748), and the History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753), Richardson was an apprenticed printer from 1706, setting up his own printing shop and press in 1719 off Fleet Street, and eventually doing quite well.