Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross

Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross. . , The Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross was erected in 1865 as the centrepiece for the newly opened Charing Cross railway station. It was commissioned by the South Eastern Railway Company, who also owned the Charing Cross Hotel, built above the station a year after its opening., It is an ornate remodelling of the medieval Eleanor Cross built by King Edward I in memory of his beloved wife and Queen Eleanor of Castille who died in 1290. He placed 12 'Eleanor crosses' in the locations where her funeral cortege stopped overnight on the route from Lincoln, near where she died, to her funeral at Westminster Abbey., The original Eleanor Cross remained in place near Westminster until the Civil War in 1647 when it was demolished and replaced with the equestrian statue of King Charles I., This Memorial Cross was designed by the British architect of the Charing Cross Hotel, Edward Barry. He based the cross on three surviving drawings of the original Eleanor Cross, other Eleanor crosses and Queen Eleanor's tomb at Westminster Abbey., Constructed by British sculptor Thomas Earp using Portland and Mansfield stone and Aberdeen granite, the octagonal gothic tower features three stages with a spire and cross at the top., Shields in the panels on the first stage are copied from remaining Eleanor crosses in Waltham and Northampton. They bear coats of arms from England, León and Castile, Spain and Ponthieu, France. Near the top of the monument stand eight crowned statues of Queen Eleanor. Four show her as a queen with an orb and sceptre and four show her with Christian symbols. Angels kneel at the feet of each statue., Network Rail, now the owners of the station, extensively renovated the memorial from 2009 to 2010. More than 100 missing or damaged features were replaced., FACTS, Designed and built 1864-1865. , 21 metres high. , The octagonal base rises in three main stages with a spire and cross at the top. , Sculpted from limestone (Portland stone) and sandstone (Mansfield stone) standing on a granite plinth. , The English, Spanish and French coats of arms sculpted on the shields on the first stage pay homage to Eleanor's heritage as Queen of England, born in the community of Castile and León; the County of Ponthieu formed part of her marriage dowry to King Edward I. , The architect of this cross, Edward Barry, designed the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1857 following the previous theatre's destruction by fire. , The location of the original Eleanor Cross is the official centre of London. , Under King Edward I orders, two wax candles burnt beside Queen Eleanor's tomb in Westminster Abbey until they were extinguished during the Reformation.