Charing Cross
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charing Cross is the name given to Charing Cross railway station and the surrounding district of Central London, England. It originates from the hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I placed a cross in memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile. It is officially[1] recognised as the centre of London; distances to London are measured to the location of the original Eleanor cross built at Charing.
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[edit] History
Charing Cross was the last of 12 locations 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. Since 1675, the site has been occupied by Hubert Le Sueur's 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)
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. In Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World, the Charing Cross is renamed to Charing T, after the Ford Model T.
[edit] Official use as central point
Legislation from the early 19th Century used Charing Cross as a central point for defining its scope. Its later use in legislation waned in favour of providing a schedule of local government areas and became mostly obsolete with the official creation of Greater London in 1965.
| Use | Scope |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan Police District | The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 made provision that all parishes within twelve miles could be added. This was expanded to fifteen miles by the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. |
| Metropolitan Buildings Office | The London Building Act 1844 allowed that any place within twelve miles could be added to the area of responsibility. |
| The Knowledge | Streets within a six mile radius are included in the taxi driver training. |
[edit] Nearest places
[edit] Nearest tube stations
- Charing Cross tube station
- Embankment tube station
- Leicester Square tube station
- Waterloo station
- Westminster tube station
[edit] Nearest railway stations
[edit] References
- ^ BBC - Where Is The Centre Of London?. Retrieved 31 December 2006.
