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EspañolELEANOR CROSS
The 'Eleanor crosses' are twelve lavishly decorated stone monuments, of which three survive intact, found in a line down part of the east of England. King Edward I had the crosses erected between 1291 and 1294 in memory of his wife Eleanor of Castile, marking the route of her body as it was taken to London.
Upon her death in 1290 at Harby, near the city of Lincoln, her body was immediately carried to the Gilbertine priory of St Catherine's in the south of Lincoln where she was embalmed. Her viscera were sent for burial in the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, where they still rest. Her body was then sent to London, taking 12 days to reach Westminster Abbey in London. The crosses were erected a few years later at the twelve places where her funeral procession stopped overnight.
At Westminster she was buried at the feet of her father-in-law King Henry III. Her heart travelled with the body and was buried in the abbey church at Blackfriars.
A similar event had taken place in France for the body of King Louis IX in 1271 (although his were as a manifesto for canonization, which they were not in Eleanor's case) and Edward had probably seen similar memorial crosses in France and elsewhere in Europe during his travels. They were at least in part intended as cenotaphs to provoke prayers for her soul from passers-by and pilgrims[1]
The only three crosses still standing are those at Waltham Cross, Northampton, and Geddington, though remnants of the lost ones can also be seen.
===Lincoln===
The only remaining piece of the St Catherine's cross left that survives is kept in Lincoln Castle.
===Grantham
Stamford
Geddington===
Still standing, it is said to be the best-preserved of the three survivors. It seems to be unique among the surviving crosses in having a triangular plan, and a taller and more slender profile (with a lower tier entirely covered with diapering, instead of an arch-and-gable motif with tracery which appears on both the others; and canopied statues surmounted by a slender hexagonal pinnacle).[2]
===Hardingstone, Northampton===
The Northampton cross is still standing and is located at the edge of Delapré Abbey, where the body rested overnight; the King stayed at nearby Northampton Castle. This cross was begun in 1291 by John of Battle; he worked with William of Ireland to carve the statues; William was paid £3 6s. 8d. per figure.
The cross is octagonal in shape and set upon some steps - the present ones are replacements. The cross is built in three tiers and originally had a crowning terminal - possibly a cross. It is not known when this became lost.[3]
The Cross is referred to in Daniel Defoe's a "Tour through the whole island of Great Britain", where he reports on the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675, "...a townsman being at Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it."
Its bottom tier features open books. These probably included painted inscriptions of her biography and of prayers for her soul to be said by viewers, which are now lost.
===Stony Stratford===
This cross stood at the lower end of the town, towards the river Ouse on Watling Street (now the High Street), although its exact location is hotly debated. It is said to have been of a tall elegant design (perhaps similar to that at Geddington) but was destroyed during the Civil War by the Parliamentarians. The base survived that for some time, but any trace even that has now vanished. This commemorative plaque on the wall of 157 High Street is all that is now visible:
:Near this spot stood the Cross erected by King Edward the I to mark the place in Stony Stratford where the body of Queen Eleanor rested on its way from Harby in Nottinghamshire to Westminster Abbey in 1290[4]
===Woburn
Dunstable===
The shopping precinct in High Street North, Dunstable, contains a modern statue of the queen.
Bedfordshire website link
===St Albans===
An Eleanor cross was erected at a cost of £100 in the Market Place. The cross, which stood for many years in front of the 15th century Clock Tower in the High Street (opposite the Waxhouse Gateway entrance to the Abbey), was demolished in the early 18th century due to neglect and replaced by the town pump. A fountain was erected in its stead in 1874, which was subsequently relocated to Victoria Place.
===Waltham (now Waltham Cross)===
Still standing, although its original statues of Eleanor were removed in the 1980s to protect them from urban pollution. It was the result of cooperation between an architect and a sculptor – Roger of Crundale and Alexander of Abingdon respectively.[5]
===Westcheap (now known as Cheapside)===
Lost, although fragments are held by the Museum of London, and surviving drawings enable an accurate reconstruction to be established.
The Cheapside Cross was demolished in May 1643 under an ordinance from the parliamentary Committee for the Demolition of Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry, led by Sir Robert Harley. The cross was in fact the third incarnation of the monument which had been reconstructed and refurbished several times in the preceding three centuries, in which time it had enjoyed the protection of various monarchs and the Mayor and Corporation of London.
An important monument in its day, matters came to a head during the years running up to the English Civil War, when the cross was seen to encompass the doctrinal debates of the period. To puritanical reformers, it was identified with 'Dagon', the ancient god of the Philistines and was seen as the embodiment of Royal Catholic tradition. At least one riot was fought in its shadow as opponents of the cross descended upon it to pull it down and supporters rallied to stop them.
After Charles I had fled London to raise an army at the start of the Civil War, the destruction of the cross was almost the first order of business for Harley's commission. Though less well known than the Charing Cross, the downfall of the Cheapside Cross is one of the most interesting and arguably important examples of iconoclasm in English history.
===Charing (now Charing Cross)===
The cross at Charing Cross, in what was then the Royal Mews, was the most expensive, built out of marble and the result of cooperation between an architect and a sculptor – namely Master Alexander of Abingdon and the senior royal mason Richard of Crundale.
Charing is the subject of the romantic etymology of chere reine (dear queen), but the name probably comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ''cerring'', a bend, as it stands on the outside of a 90 degree bend in the River Thames (qv Charing in Kent). The original cross stood at the top of Whitehall on the south side of Trafalgar Square, but was destroyed in 1647 and replaced by an equestrian statue of Charles I in 1675. This point in Trafalgar Square is regarded as the official centre of London in legislation and when measuring distances from London.[6]
A replacement cross was erected in 1865 in front of the railway station that bears its name, a few hundred metres to the east along the Strand. It is not a faithful replica, being more ornate than the original. It stands 70ft high and was commissioned by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company for their newly-opened Charing Cross Hotel (now the Thistle Charing Cross, soon to be rebranded as a Guoman). The new cross was designed by the architect of the hotel, E.M.Barry, who is best known for his work on Covent Garden. It was constructed by Thomas Earp of Lambeth from Portland stone, Mansfield stone (a fine sandstone) and Aberdeen granite.[7]
Surviving drawings of the original also enable an accurate virtual reconstruction.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries several replica Eleanor Crosses were erected including those at Ilam, Staffordshire, Walkden, Lancashire, Sledmere, East Riding of Yorkshire, and Queensbury.
★ Ilam - built in 1840 by Jesse Watts Russell of Ilam Hall to commemorate his wife.[8]
1. Chronicle of St Albans
2. English Heritage page on Geddington's Cross
3. The Buildings of England - Northamptonshire. N Pevsner (Second edition). ISBN 0-300-09632-1
4. Stony Stratford's Eleanor Cross
5. Waltham image
6. Where Is The Centre Of London? BBC
7. Charing Cross Network Rail
8. Ilam photograph
★ A link to a short article with images describing the likely circumstances surrounding the transfer of Queen Eleanor's body to Westminster
★ Art & Architecture article on the Eleanor Crosses
★ Adrian Fletcher's Paradoxplace – Waltham Cross Page
★ Stamford Museum - a friendly local history museum, view a fragment of Stamford's Eleanor Cross
Background
The procession
Tomb of Eleanor's viscera in the Angel Choir at Lincoln Cathedral.
Upon her death in 1290 at Harby, near the city of Lincoln, her body was immediately carried to the Gilbertine priory of St Catherine's in the south of Lincoln where she was embalmed. Her viscera were sent for burial in the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, where they still rest. Her body was then sent to London, taking 12 days to reach Westminster Abbey in London. The crosses were erected a few years later at the twelve places where her funeral procession stopped overnight.
At Westminster she was buried at the feet of her father-in-law King Henry III. Her heart travelled with the body and was buried in the abbey church at Blackfriars.
Reasons for construction
A similar event had taken place in France for the body of King Louis IX in 1271 (although his were as a manifesto for canonization, which they were not in Eleanor's case) and Edward had probably seen similar memorial crosses in France and elsewhere in Europe during his travels. They were at least in part intended as cenotaphs to provoke prayers for her soul from passers-by and pilgrims[1]
The 12 places
The only three crosses still standing are those at Waltham Cross, Northampton, and Geddington, though remnants of the lost ones can also be seen.
===Lincoln===
The St Catherine's, Lincoln, cross
The only remaining piece of the St Catherine's cross left that survives is kept in Lincoln Castle.
===Grantham
No part of the Grantham Cross survives.
Stamford
Other than a small marble fragment, a carved rose, preserved in the town's museum, no part of the Stamford Cross survives.
Geddington===
The Geddington cross
Still standing, it is said to be the best-preserved of the three survivors. It seems to be unique among the surviving crosses in having a triangular plan, and a taller and more slender profile (with a lower tier entirely covered with diapering, instead of an arch-and-gable motif with tracery which appears on both the others; and canopied statues surmounted by a slender hexagonal pinnacle).[2]
===Hardingstone, Northampton===
The Northampton Cross
Plaque recording the history of the Northampton Cross
The Northampton cross is still standing and is located at the edge of Delapré Abbey, where the body rested overnight; the King stayed at nearby Northampton Castle. This cross was begun in 1291 by John of Battle; he worked with William of Ireland to carve the statues; William was paid £3 6s. 8d. per figure.
The cross is octagonal in shape and set upon some steps - the present ones are replacements. The cross is built in three tiers and originally had a crowning terminal - possibly a cross. It is not known when this became lost.[3]
The Cross is referred to in Daniel Defoe's a "Tour through the whole island of Great Britain", where he reports on the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675, "...a townsman being at Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it."
Its bottom tier features open books. These probably included painted inscriptions of her biography and of prayers for her soul to be said by viewers, which are now lost.
===Stony Stratford===
This cross stood at the lower end of the town, towards the river Ouse on Watling Street (now the High Street), although its exact location is hotly debated. It is said to have been of a tall elegant design (perhaps similar to that at Geddington) but was destroyed during the Civil War by the Parliamentarians. The base survived that for some time, but any trace even that has now vanished. This commemorative plaque on the wall of 157 High Street is all that is now visible:
:Near this spot stood the Cross erected by King Edward the I to mark the place in Stony Stratford where the body of Queen Eleanor rested on its way from Harby in Nottinghamshire to Westminster Abbey in 1290[4]
===Woburn
The shopping precinct in High Street North, Dunstable, contains a modern statue of the queen.
Bedfordshire website link
===St Albans===
An Eleanor cross was erected at a cost of £100 in the Market Place. The cross, which stood for many years in front of the 15th century Clock Tower in the High Street (opposite the Waxhouse Gateway entrance to the Abbey), was demolished in the early 18th century due to neglect and replaced by the town pump. A fountain was erected in its stead in 1874, which was subsequently relocated to Victoria Place.
===Waltham (now Waltham Cross)===
Still standing, although its original statues of Eleanor were removed in the 1980s to protect them from urban pollution. It was the result of cooperation between an architect and a sculptor – Roger of Crundale and Alexander of Abingdon respectively.[5]
===Westcheap (now known as Cheapside)===
Lost, although fragments are held by the Museum of London, and surviving drawings enable an accurate reconstruction to be established.
The Cheapside Cross was demolished in May 1643 under an ordinance from the parliamentary Committee for the Demolition of Monuments of Superstition and Idolatry, led by Sir Robert Harley. The cross was in fact the third incarnation of the monument which had been reconstructed and refurbished several times in the preceding three centuries, in which time it had enjoyed the protection of various monarchs and the Mayor and Corporation of London.
An important monument in its day, matters came to a head during the years running up to the English Civil War, when the cross was seen to encompass the doctrinal debates of the period. To puritanical reformers, it was identified with 'Dagon', the ancient god of the Philistines and was seen as the embodiment of Royal Catholic tradition. At least one riot was fought in its shadow as opponents of the cross descended upon it to pull it down and supporters rallied to stop them.
After Charles I had fled London to raise an army at the start of the Civil War, the destruction of the cross was almost the first order of business for Harley's commission. Though less well known than the Charing Cross, the downfall of the Cheapside Cross is one of the most interesting and arguably important examples of iconoclasm in English history.
===Charing (now Charing Cross)===
The Victorian replica at Charing Cross
The cross at Charing Cross, in what was then the Royal Mews, was the most expensive, built out of marble and the result of cooperation between an architect and a sculptor – namely Master Alexander of Abingdon and the senior royal mason Richard of Crundale.
Charing is the subject of the romantic etymology of chere reine (dear queen), but the name probably comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ''cerring'', a bend, as it stands on the outside of a 90 degree bend in the River Thames (qv Charing in Kent). The original cross stood at the top of Whitehall on the south side of Trafalgar Square, but was destroyed in 1647 and replaced by an equestrian statue of Charles I in 1675. This point in Trafalgar Square is regarded as the official centre of London in legislation and when measuring distances from London.[6]
A replacement cross was erected in 1865 in front of the railway station that bears its name, a few hundred metres to the east along the Strand. It is not a faithful replica, being more ornate than the original. It stands 70ft high and was commissioned by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company for their newly-opened Charing Cross Hotel (now the Thistle Charing Cross, soon to be rebranded as a Guoman). The new cross was designed by the architect of the hotel, E.M.Barry, who is best known for his work on Covent Garden. It was constructed by Thomas Earp of Lambeth from Portland stone, Mansfield stone (a fine sandstone) and Aberdeen granite.[7]
Surviving drawings of the original also enable an accurate virtual reconstruction.
Replicas and imitations
During the 19th and early 20th centuries several replica Eleanor Crosses were erected including those at Ilam, Staffordshire, Walkden, Lancashire, Sledmere, East Riding of Yorkshire, and Queensbury.
★ Ilam - built in 1840 by Jesse Watts Russell of Ilam Hall to commemorate his wife.[8]
References
1. Chronicle of St Albans
2. English Heritage page on Geddington's Cross
3. The Buildings of England - Northamptonshire. N Pevsner (Second edition). ISBN 0-300-09632-1
4. Stony Stratford's Eleanor Cross
5. Waltham image
6. Where Is The Centre Of London? BBC
7. Charing Cross Network Rail
8. Ilam photograph
External links
★ A link to a short article with images describing the likely circumstances surrounding the transfer of Queen Eleanor's body to Westminster
★ Art & Architecture article on the Eleanor Crosses
★ Adrian Fletcher's Paradoxplace – Waltham Cross Page
★ Stamford Museum - a friendly local history museum, view a fragment of Stamford's Eleanor Cross
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