Garry Hogg (1968) tells us the locations of the other Eleanor Crosses, saying the: “Eleanor Cross, Geddington, Northants, three miles north-east of Kettering. Ten of these ”Eleanor Crosses“ were erected by King Edward, but only three now remain - one at Geddington, one at Northampton, and one at Waltham Cross.” it was removed in 1647, when the copy was placed in its present position. The original Charing cross stood nearer to White-hall, on the spot now occupied by the statue of Charles I. brought the coffin of his dead queen, Eleanor, from Nottinghamshire to her burial-place in Westminster Abbey, and on each spot where the coffin was placed to rest during the long, weary journey the King erected one of these crosses, and the little village of Charing was the last halt on the way. Mary Fox-Davies (1910) says that: “You know, I expect, the story of these crosses: how King Edward I. The figures are all under canopies, and four show Eleanor as a sovereign and the others as a gracious lady.”Įleanor Cross, Charing Cross Railway Station. Below are coats of heraldry, and above are eight statues of the queen with a kneeling angel at the foot on each statue. The cross is seventy feet high and rises in two stages surmounted by a spire. It stood where Charles Stuart sits on horse-back a little way off, and this copy of it was designed by Edward Barry and sculptured by Thomas Erpe. Three of the nine crosses remain in the country this is a copy of the old one destroyed in 1647. She came from Harby in Notts, the village where she died, and rested nine nights on the way. #THE WITNESS RIVER OBELISK SERIES#Charing as a place-name is thought to be derived from ‘cerring’, an Early English word meaning “bend or turn in the road.” The monument is Grade II listed.Īrthur Mee (1949) says that: “…….in the courtyard of Charing Cross Station is the lovely Eleanor Cross, a copy of the last of that pathetic series set up by Edward the First to mark the resting-place of his Queen Eleanor on her last ride through our countryside. The present Charing Cross was recently restored. A statue of King Charles I on horseback was erected where the original Charing Cross used to stand, near Trafalgar Square. But it is said ‘not to be as good’ as the original, which was pulled down and broken up about 1647. However, this 70 foot (21 metre) high richly decorated monument dating from 1865 is made of granite and Portland stone. Queen Eleanor was buried in Westminster Abbey. It was named after Queen Eleanor of Castile, the wife of King Edward I, and was erected as a memorial to her in 1291 the year after her death at Harby in Nottinghamshire at the age of 49. On the forecourt of Charing Cross Railway Station on the Strand, in Westminster, London E.C.2., is the sculptured monument known as ‘The Charing Cross’ or the ‘Eleanor Cross’ which is a replica of the original one that stood nearby, and one of only four such crosses to remain, although the other three are originals.
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