Charing Cross

Charing Cross is a busy road junction in the City of Westminster where six routes meet. It stands where the hamlet of Charing once occupied a bend in the Thames. The name comes from the Old English word for riverbend, not from Queen Eleanor as some once thought. In the 13th century a grand Eleanor cross marked the site as a memorial to Eleanor of Castile. The medieval cross was destroyed in 1647 during the Civil War. The site has long been recognised as the centre of London for measuring distances. A bronze statue of Charles I on horseback now stands where the cross once did. The statue was made by Hubert Le Sueur in 1633 and re-erected here in 1675. Nearby stands a modern replica of the Eleanor cross built in 1865 for the station forecourt. The original cross’s site is still marked by the traffic island around the statue. The area was once home to the Chapel and Hospital of St Mary Rounceval founded between 1232 and 1236. The Augustinian house was seized in 1379 and later suppressed by Henry V. In 1608 the Earl of Northampton built Northumberland House on part of the land. The junction was also the scene of Wyatt’s Rebellion in 1554 when rebel forces reached Whitehall. Today the crossing remains a focal point where government buildings, Trafalgar Square and the Strand meet.