Home > Charing Cross
The name Charing Cross, now given to a district of central London in the City of Westminster, comes from the original hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I of England placed a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile.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. At each of these, Edward erected an " Eleanor cross", of which only three now remain. The one which stands at Charing Cross, in front of the railway station, is a re-located Victorian "copy" (designed by architect Edward Middleton Barry) of the original, the latter having stood where a statue of King Charles I of England is now to be found. According to historians, the original cross was not nearly as large or ornate as the Victorian version.
The name Charing Cross derives from the old English word charing, meaning a bend in the river; thus, the Charing Cross is "the cross by the bend in the river".
As London is such a large city, all distances (e.g. as seen on road signs) are measured from a particular point. A plaque in Charing Cross, near Trafalgar Square, marks the place from which distances from London are measured.
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. This may be as true now as it was then.
1 Nearest places
2 Nearest tube stations
- Charing Cross tube stationCharing Cross tube station of the London Underground serves both the Northern Line and Bakerloo Line networks and provides an interconnect with the national railway network at Charing Cross station. On the Northern Line is it between Embankment and Leices
- Embankment tube stationEmbankment tube station in London is served by the Circle Line, District Line, Northern Line and Bakerloo Line. The station has two entrances, one on the Victoria Embankment and the other on Villiers Street which leads up to The Strand. It is in zone 1.
- Leicester Square tube stationLeicester Square Tube Station is a station on the London Underground, located on Charing Cross Road, a short distance to the east of Leicester Square itself. The station is on the Northern Line between Charing Cross and Tottenham Court Road, and the Picca
- Waterloo stationWaterloo is a major train station and transport interchange located in the Waterloo district of London, which was itself named after the Battle of Waterloo in which Napoleon was defeated near Brussels. Somewhat ironically, it is now London's gateway for t
- Westminster tube station
3 Nearest railway stations
London Districts
London's West End
