Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross
| Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross | |
|---|---|
|
The cross in 2011 | |
| Location | Forecourt of Charing Cross railway station, London |
| Built | 1864–5 |
| Architect | Edward Middleton Barry |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Designated | 5 February 1970 |
| Reference no. | 1236708[1] |
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The Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross is a replica of the medieval Eleanor cross at Charing (London), erected in the forecourt of Charing Cross railway station in 1864–5. It was designed by Edward Middleton Barry, also the architect of the station, and includes multiple statues of Eleanor of Castile by Thomas Earp. It does not occupy the original site of the Charing Cross (destroyed in 1647), which is now occupied by Hubert Le Sueur's equestrian statue of Charles I.
Barry based the memorial on the three surviving drawings of the Charing Cross, in the Bodleian Library, the British Museum and the Royal Society of Antiquaries. However, owing to the fragmentary nature of this evidence, he also drew from a wider range of sources including the other surviving Eleanor crosses and Eleanor's tomb at Westminster Abbey.[2] In the search for precedents Barry was assisted by his fellow architect Arthur Ashpitel.[3] The coats of arms of England, León, Castile and Ponthieu are represented on the memorial.[1]
References
- 1 2 Historic England, "Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross (1236708)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 December 2014
- ↑ Ward-Jackson, Philip (2011), Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume 1, Public Sculpture of Britain, 14, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 257–8
- ↑ Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2003), London: Westminster, The Buildings of England, 6, London and New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 300
External links
Media related to Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 51°30′30″N 0°07′31″W / 51.5084°N 0.1253°W