| Charing Cross | |
|---|---|
  Top: The Charing Cross roundabout, with aStatue of Charles I on the site of the originalEleanor Cross in the then hamlet of Charing, an important junction since the middle ages. Bottom: A map of Charing Cross and its immediate surroundings. | |
  Charing Cross Location withinGreater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ302804 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | WC2 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°30′26″N0°07′39″W / 51.5073°N 0.12755°W /51.5073; -0.12755 | |
Charing Cross (/ˈtʃærɪŋ/CHARR-ing)[1] is a junction inWestminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre ofLondon" and became thepoint from which distances from London are measured. Clockwise from north, the routes that meet at Charing Cross are: the east side ofTrafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and thenCharing Cross Road; theStrand leading to theCity;Northumberland Avenue leading to theThames Embankment;Whitehall leading toParliament Square;The Mall leading toAdmiralty Arch andBuckingham Palace; and two short roads leading toPall Mall andSt James's.
Historically, the name was derived from the hamlet ofCharing ('Riverbend') that occupied the area of this important road junction in the middle ages, together with the grandEleanor cross that once marked the site. The medieval monumental cross, the Charing Cross (1294–1647), was the largest and most ornate instance of a chain of medieval Eleanor crosses running fromLincoln to this location. It was a landmark for many centuries of the hamlet of Charing,Westminster, which later gave way to government property; a little of the Strand; and Trafalgar Square. The cross in its historical forms has lent its name to its locality, includingCharing Cross Station. On the forecourt of this terminus station stands the ornateQueen Eleanor Memorial Cross, a taller emulation of the original, built to mark the station's opening in 1864.
Abronze equestrian statue ofCharles I, erected in 1675, stands on a high plinth, situated roughly where the medieval monumental cross (the 'Charing Cross') had previously stood for 353 years, since its construction in 1294, until it was destroyed in 1647 by the revolutionary government ofOliver Cromwell. The famously beheaded King, appearing ascendant, is the work of French sculptorHubert Le Sueur. Charing Cross is marked on contemporary maps as the road junction around the statue's traffic island. It is a thoroughfare in postal addresses:Drummonds Bank, on the corner with The Mall, retains the address 49 Charing Cross and 1-4 Charing Cross continues to exist.[2][3] The name previously applied to the whole stretch of road betweenGreat Scotland Yard and Trafalgar Square, but since January 1931 most of this section of road has been designated part of the 'Whitehall' thoroughfare.[4]
Erect a rich and stately carved cross,
Whereon her statue shall with glory shine;
And henceforth see you call it Charing Cross.
The name of the lost hamlet, Charing, is derived from theOld English wordċierring, a river bend, in this case, referring to a bend in theThames.[5][6][7] A debunkedfolk etymology claimed the name is acorruption ofchère reine ("dear queen" in French), but the name pre-dates Queen Eleanor's death by at least a hundred years.[5][8]
The suffix "Cross" refers to theEleanor cross made during 1291–94 by order of KingEdward I as a memorial to his wife,Eleanor of Castile.[9] This place latter comprised little more than wayside cottages serving theRoyal Mews in the northern area ofTrafalgar Square, and built specifically for thePalace of Whitehall (much of the east side ofWhitehall). A variant from the hazyMiddle English orthography of the late fourteenth century isCherryngescrouche.[5]
The stone cross was the work of the medieval sculptor,Alexander of Abingdon.[10] It was destroyed in 1647 on the orders of the purely Parliamentarian phase of theLong Parliament orOliver Cromwell himself in theCivil War.[11] A 70 ft (21 m)-highstone sculpture in front ofCharing Cross railway station, erected in 1865, is a reimagining of the medieval cross, on a larger scale, more ornate, and not on the original site. It was designed by the architectE. M. Barry and carved byThomas Earp of Lambeth out ofPortland stone,Mansfield stone (a fine sandstone) andAberdeen granite; and it stands 222 yards (203 metres) to the north-east of the original cross, focal to the station forecourt, facing theStrand.[12]
Since 1675 the site of the cross has been occupied by a statue ofCharles I, the king beheaded during the Cromwellian era, mounted on a horse. The site is recognised by modern convention as the centre of London for determining distances (whether geodesically or by road network) in preference to other measurement points (such asSt Paul's Cathedral which remains the root of the English and Welsh part of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme). Charing Cross is marked on modern maps as a road junction, and was used in street numbering for the section of Whitehall betweenGreat Scotland Yard and Trafalgar Square. Since 1 January 1931 this segment has more logically and officially become the northern end of Whitehall.[13]
At some time between 1232 and 1236, the Chapel and Hospital of St Mary Rounceval was founded at Charing. It occupied land at the corner of the modern Whitehall and into the centre ofNorthumberland Avenue, running down to a wharf by the river. It was anAugustinian house, tied to a mother house atRoncesvalles in thePyrenees. The house and lands were seized for the king in 1379, under a statute "for the forfeiture of the lands of schismatic aliens". Protracted legal action returned some rights to the prior, but in 1414,Henry V suppressed the 'alien' houses. The priory fell into a long decline from lack of money and arguments regarding the collection of tithes with the parish church ofSt Martin-in-the-Fields. In 1541, religious artefacts were removed toSt Margaret's, and the chapel was adapted as a private house; its almshouse were sequestered to the Royal Palace.[14]
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In 1608–09, theEarl of Northampton builtNorthumberland House on the eastern portion of the property. In June 1874, the duke's property at Charing Cross was purchased by theMetropolitan Board of Works for the formation of Northumberland Avenue.[15]
The frontage of the Rounceval property caused the narrowing at the end of the Whitehall entry to Charing Cross, and formed the section of Whitehall formerly known as Charing Cross, until road widening in the 1930s caused the rebuilding of the south side of the street which created a wide thoroughfare.[14]
In 1554, Charing Cross was the site of the final battle ofWyatt's Rebellion. This was an attempt byThomas Wyatt and others to overthrow QueenMary I of England, soon after her accession to the throne, and replace her withLady Jane Grey. Wyatt's army had come from Kent, and withLondon Bridge barred to them, had crossed the river by what was then the next bridge upstream, atHampton Court. Their circuitous route brought them downSt Martin's Lane to Whitehall.[12]
The palace was defended by 1000 men under SirJohn Gage at Charing Cross; they retreated within Whitehall after firing their shot, causing consternation within, thinking the force had changed sides. The rebels – themselves fearful of artillery on the higher ground aroundSt James's – did not press their attack and marched on toLudgate, where they were met by theTower Garrison and surrendered.[12]
The Eleanor Cross was pulled down, by order of Parliament, in 1647, at the time of theEnglish Civil War, becoming the subject of a popularRoyalistballad:
Methinks the common-council shou'd
Of it have taken pity,
'Cause, good old cross, it always stood
So firmly in the city.
Since crosses you so much disdain,
Faith, if I were you,
For fear the King should rule again,
I'd pull downTiburn too.
— Extract from "The Downfall of Charing Cross"[16]
Atthe Restoration (1660 or shortly after) eight of theregicides were executed here, including the notableFifth Monarchist, ColonelThomas Harrison.[17] A statue of Charles I was, likewise in Charles II's reign, erected on the site. This had been made in 1633 byHubert Le Sueur, in the reign of Charles I, but in 1649 Parliament ordered a man to destroy it; however he instead hid it and brought it back to the new King, Charles II (Charles I's son), and his Parliament who had the statue erected here in 1675.[18]
A prominentpillory, where malefactors were publicly flogged, stood alongside for centuries.[19] About 200 yards to the east was theHungerford Market, established at the end of the 16th century; and to the north was theKing's Mews, or Royal Mews, the stables for the Palace of Whitehall and thus the King's own presence at the Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster). The whole area of the broad pavements of what was a three-way main junction with private (stables) turn-off was a popular place of street entertainment.Samuel Pepys records in his diaries visiting the taverns and watching the entertainments and executions that were held there.[20] This was combined with the south of the mews when Trafalgar Square was built on the site in 1832, the rest of the stable yard becoming the National Gallery primarily.
A major London coaching inn, the "Golden Cross" – first mentioned in 1643 – faced this junction. From here, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, coaches linked variously terminuses of:Dover,Brighton,Bath, Bristol,Cambridge,Holyhead andYork. The inn features inSketches by Boz,David Copperfield andThe Pickwick Papers byCharles Dickens. In the latter, the dangers to public safety of the quite low archway to access the inn's coaching yard were memorably pointed out byMr Jingle:
"Heads, heads – take care of your heads", cried the loquacious stranger as they came out under the low archway which in those days formed the entrance to the coachyard. "Terrible place – dangerous work – other day – five children – mother – tall lady, eating sandwiches – forgot the arch – crash – knock – children look round – mother's head off – sandwich in her hand – no mouth to put it in – head of family off."
The story echoes an accident of 11 April 1800, when the Chatham and Rochester coach was emerging from the gateway of the Golden Cross, and "a young woman, sitting on the top, threw her head back, to prevent her striking against the beam; but there being so much luggage on the roof of the coach as to hinder her laying herself sufficiently back, it caught her face, and tore the flesh in a dreadful manner."[21]
The inn and its yard, pillory, and what remained of the Royal Mews, made way for Trafalgar Square, and a new Golden Cross Hotel was built in the 1830s on the triangular block fronted bySouth Africa House. A nod to this is made by some offices on the Strand, in a building named Golden Cross House.
The railway station opened in 1864, fronted on the Strand with the Charing Cross Hotel. In 1865, a replacement cross was commissioned fromE. M. Barry by theSouth Eastern Railway as the centrepiece of the station forecourt. It is not a replica, being of an ornateVictorianGothic design based onGeorge Gilbert Scott's OxfordMartyrs' Memorial (1838). The Cross rises 70 feet (21 m) in three main stages on an octagonal plan, surmounted by a spire and cross. The shields in the panels of the first stage are copied from theEleanor Crosses and bear the arms of England,Castile,Leon andPonthieu; above the 2nd parapet are eight statues of Queen Eleanor. The Cross was designated aGrade II* monument on 5 February 1970.[22] The month before, the bronze equestrian statue of Charles, on a pedestal of carved Portland stone, was given Grade I listed protection.[23]
The rebuilding of a monument to resemble the one lost under Cromwell's low church Britain took place in 1864 in Britain's main era of medieval revivalism.[24] The next year the memorial was completed andCardinal Wiseman died, having been appointed the firstArchbishop of Westminster in 1850, with many Anglican churches also having restored or re-created their medieval ornamentations by the end of the century. By this time England was the epicentre of theGothic Revival.[24] It was intertwined with deeply philosophical movements associated with a re-awakening of "High Church" orAnglo-Catholic self-belief (and by the Catholic convertAugustus Welby Pugin) concerned by the growth of religious nonconformism.[24]
The cross, having been revived, gave its name to arailway station, atube station, a police station, ahospital, a hotel, atheatre, and amusic hall (which had lain beneath the arches of the railway station).Charing Cross Road, the main route from the north (which became the east side of Trafalgar Square), was named after the railway station, itself a major destination for traffic, rather than after the original cross.[25]
By the late 18th century, the Charing Cross district was increasingly coming to be perceived as the "centre" of themetropolis (supplanting the traditional heartland of theCity to the east).[26] From the early 19th century, legislation applicable only to the London metropolis used Charing Cross as a central point to define its geographical scope. Its later use in legislation waned in favour of providing a schedule of local government areas and became mostly obsolete with the creation ofGreater London in 1965.
| Use | Scope |
|---|---|
| Hackney carriage (colloquially London cab/taxi) licensing andThe Knowledge | TheLondon Hackney Carriage Act 1831 and other Acts set the radius within which licensed London cabs illuminated or otherwise advertising for business had to take a fare (and convey passengers). The legacy of this is that streets within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross are the basis of 'black taxi' driver training. Such cabs can turn down exceptionally long journeys. |
| Metropolitan Police District | TheMetropolitan Police Act 1829 stated all parishes within 12 miles of Charing Cross could be added. This was expanded to 15 miles by theMetropolitan Police Act 1839. It has since been harmonised to Greater London, as to stations and main conurbations. |
| Metropolitan Buildings Office | The Office (superseded in 1855 and today by each local authority's Building Control departments or teams) could regulate use and building standards under theLondon Building Act 1844, within 12 miles of Charing Cross |
| Street trading | The Metropolitan Streets Act 1856 gave the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police power to control some acts within six miles of Charing Cross. Powers to license shoeblack pitches remain, heavily superseded by theLondon boroughs' street trading licensing laws. |
| Amateur radio | 431MHz-432MHz are banned for amateur radio use within 100km of Charing Cross. |
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Road distances from London continue to be measured from Charing Cross. Prior to its selection as a commonly agreed centraldatum point, various points were used for this purpose.John Ogilby'sBritannia of 1675, of which editions and derivations continued to be published throughout the 18th century, used the "Standard" (a former conduit head) inCornhill;[27] whileJohn Cary'sNew Itinerary of 1798 used theGeneral Post Office inLombard Street.[28]
Themilestones on the mainturnpike roads were mostly measured from their terminus which was peripheral to the free-passage urban, London roads. Ten of these are notable:Hyde Park Corner,Whitechapel Church, the southern end ofLondon Bridge, the east end ofWestminster Bridge,Shoreditch Church,Tyburn Turnpike (Marble Arch),Holborn Bars,St Giles's Pound,Hicks Hall (as to theGreat North Road), and the Stones' End inThe Borough.[29][30] Some roads intoSurrey andSussex were measured fromSt Mary-le-Bow church in the City.[31][32] Some of these structures were later moved or destroyed, but reference to them persisted as if they still remained in place. An exaggerated but well-meaning criticism was that "all the Books of Roads ... published, differ in the Situation of Mile Stones, and instead of being a Guide to the Traveller, serve only to confound him".[33]
William Camden speculated in 1586 thatRoman roads in Britain had been measured fromLondon Stone, a claim thus widely repeated, but unsupported by archaeological or other evidence.[30][34]
Neighbouring areas of London | |
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To the east of the Charing Cross road junction isCharing Cross railway station, situated on the Strand. On the other side of the river, connected by the pedestrianGolden Jubilee Bridges, areWaterloo East andWaterloo stations.
The nearestLondon Underground stations areCharing Cross andEmbankment.
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