Charing Cross

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The Victorian replacement Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross.

The name Charing Cross, now given to a mainline railway station and the surrounding district of central London, comes from the original hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I placed a cross in memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile. It is often regarded as the very centre of London: other districts tend to be referenced by their distance from it.

It was one of twelve places where Eleanor's coffin rested overnight during the funeral procession from Lincolnshire to her final resting-place at Westminster, half a mile away. At each of these, Edward erected an "Eleanor cross", of which only three now remain. The one which stands in front of Charing Cross railway station is a re-located Victorian "copy" (designed by architect Edward Middleton Barry) of the original, which was not nearly as large or ornate as the Victorian version.

The cross's original location was at the village of Charing, at the top of Whitehall, at the south of Trafalgar Square. The site is now occupied by the statue of King Charles I mounted on a horse. A plaque there reads:

"On the site now occupied by the statue of King Charles was erected the original Queen Eleanor's Cross a replica of which stands in front of Charing Cross Station. Mileages from London are measured from the site of the original cross"

Although it has been thought that the name Charing derived from Fr. chere reine (= "dear Queen"), it is more likely to stem from the Old English cearring, meaning a bend in the river. (At the site of the village of Charing, coming from Westminster, the Thames makes a dramatic 90-degree turn to the east._

In 1839 the Metropolitan Police District was extended to cover every parish within 15 miles of Charing Cross.

The front entrance of Charing Cross railway station in a 19th-century print. The cross in front of the station Hotel is a Victorian replacement for the original Eleanor Cross on the site.

Samuel Johnson is quoted as saying "I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing-Cross." Source: Life of Johnson (J. Boswell), Vol. II.

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