Charing
Cross
 Charing Cross |
The site of Charing Cross is now marked by a statue of Charles I (who was beheaded in Whitehall nearby) but was originally the site of the thirteenth and final Eleanor Cross to be raised by Edward I in memory of his wife Queen Eleanor. Devoted to each other, the queen, unusually for those times, accompanied Edward on the crusades and on one occasion is said to have pulled an arrow from a wound and sucked it clean when it became infected. She was travelling to Scotland to be with him when she died.
He accompanied her funeral cortege from Lincolnshire to London, and wherever it stopped he had an ornate cross raised with statues of her included. There are now only two remaining.
 Charing Cross Station |
The cross marked what was regarded as the ancient centre of London, from which distances to other places were measured. Standing at the site, its central position with roads converging on it can clearly be seen, particularly Whitehall with the Palace of Westminster visible. The site seemed to dowse as a ley centre (meeting point of several leys) which in the case of this writer means that the angle-rods spin.
There is a cross in nearby Charing Cross railway station forecourt which is a memorial to the former cross, although it is not a copy.
Return to Interactive Map Return to Home Page
See aerial pictures of this area from MultiMap
(Use your back button
to return)