Built 1864–5 Reference no. 1236708 | Designated 5 February 1970 | |
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Similar Bromhead Memorial, Anti‑Air War Memorial, Sutton armillary, Bali Bombings Memorial, John F Kennedy Memorial | ||
Queen eleanor memorial cross top 5 facts
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. In the search for precedents Barry was assisted by his fellow architect Arthur Ashpitel. The coats of arms of England, León, Castile and Ponthieu are represented on the memorial.