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The Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross is a memorial to Eleanor of Castile , erected in the forecourt of Charing Cross railway station , London , in 1864–1865. It is a fanciful reconstruction of the medieval Eleanor cross at Charing , one of 12 memorial crosses erected by Edward I of England in memory of his first wife. The Victorian monument was designed by Edward Middleton Barry , also the architect of the railway station, and includes multiple statues of Queen Eleanor by the sculptor Thomas Earp . It does not occupy the original site of the Charing Cross (destroyed in 1647) which is now occupied by Hubert Le Sueur 's equestrian statue of Charles I .
Barry based the memorial on the three surviving drawings of the Charing Cross, in the Bodleian Library , the British Museum and the collection of the Royal Society of Antiquaries . However, due to the fragmentary nature of this evidence, he also drew from a wider range of sources including the other surviving Eleanor crosses and Queen Eleanor's tomb at Westminster Abbey . In this search for precedents, Barry was assisted by his fellow architect Arthur Ashpitel . The coats of arms of England , León , Castile and Ponthieu appear on the monument. – Wikipedia .
When Queen Eleanor passed in 1290, her body was returned to Westminster in stages and a memorial cross was erected at each stopping place: Lincoln , Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, and the best known of all, Charing, then a little village near Westminster and nowadays named after the cross, Charing Cross.
Today, only those at Geddington, Hardingstone near Northampton and Waltham Cross still remain. – more about the Eleanor Crosses .
#iwasthere at Charing Cross Station several times each week. The Eleanor Cross is separated from the front of the station by space for a taxi rank; consequently, the monument is not that conspicuous and, unfortunately, missed by most. To the extent that it is noticed, the Cross is merely a decorative structure whose significance has been lost.
Barry based the memorial on the three surviving drawings of the Charing Cross, in the Bodleian Library , the British Museum and the collection of the Royal Society of Antiquaries . However, due to the fragmentary nature of this evidence, he also drew from a wider range of sources including the other surviving Eleanor crosses and Queen Eleanor's tomb at Westminster Abbey . In this search for precedents, Barry was assisted by his fellow architect Arthur Ashpitel . The coats of arms of England , León , Castile and Ponthieu appear on the monument. – Wikipedia .
When Queen Eleanor passed in 1290, her body was returned to Westminster in stages and a memorial cross was erected at each stopping place: Lincoln , Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, and the best known of all, Charing, then a little village near Westminster and nowadays named after the cross, Charing Cross.
Today, only those at Geddington, Hardingstone near Northampton and Waltham Cross still remain. – more about the Eleanor Crosses .
#iwasthere at Charing Cross Station several times each week. The Eleanor Cross is separated from the front of the station by space for a taxi rank; consequently, the monument is not that conspicuous and, unfortunately, missed by most. To the extent that it is noticed, the Cross is merely a decorative structure whose significance has been lost.
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