Charing Cross

In 1290 Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward 1, died at Harby in Nottinghamshire, aged 49. As her funeral procession brought her body back to be buried at Westminster Abbey, Edward decreed that lavish crosses should be erected in her memory at each of the stopping off points along the way. Several survive today, including at  Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham.

The cross at Charing Cross (now situated outside the station of that name) was originally built in the village of Charing (then site of the Royal Mews or stabling accommodation, between the city of London and Westminster Abbey, where Eleanor was interred in December 1290. Her tomb can be seen there today, next to her husband's.

The original cross was destroyed on the order of Parliament in 1647 during the Civil War and was replaced by a statue of Charles I on a spot which now is taken to mark the administrative centre of London (the spot from which all distances to London are measured). The present Charing Cross was erected in 1865.