ELEANOR CROSSES

King Edward I's queen, Eleanor of Castile, died at Harby, in Nottinghamshire, in December 1290. Over the following three or four years, the journey from Harby to her burial place in Westminster Abbey was marked by 12 stone crosses the king caused to be built at each place the cortege had rested. They were at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, West Cheap, "Charing Cross. Sadly, only three are left: at Waltham, Geddington and at Hardingstone (Northampton). At Waltham the cross is of Caen stone, finished by a crocketed spirelet and cross, and is supposed to have been designed by Pietro Cavallini, a Roman sculptor.