ON 28th November 1290 the Queen-Consort, Eleanor of Castile, died at Harby, in Nottinghamshire. Edward I., prostrated with grief—the sincerity of his devotion to his wife was perhaps the most favourable trait in his character—resolved to perpetuate her memory by erecting crosses at the various stopping-places of the funeral procession on its way to London. The route chosen, though not the most direct one, was arranged expressly so that the body might rest, each night of its journey, at some large and important town, or else at some conventual house, for the fitting celebration of the solemn offices for the dead. A stone cross was built, if not upon the exact spot, in the near neighbourhood of the spot, where the body had reposed on each occasion, viz., at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, or rather Hardingston (reached on 9th December), Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans (13th December), Waltham, or rather Cheshunt, London (where the body lay for the night, probably in St Paul's Cathedral, a cross being afterwards erected in West Cheap), and, finally, Charing village, which was the last halting-place on the way to the entombment in Westminster Abbey on 17th December. There were set up altogether twelve Eleanor crosses. Some have reckoned the number at fifteen, supposing that similar crosses were erected also at Harby, Newark, and Leicester, but of these there is no evidence.

So far as can be judged from documents and existing remains, it would seem that certain principal features were common to the design of all the crosses of the series, although they varied in minor details. The general outline was borrowed from that of a spire of diminishing stages. A statue of Queen Eleanor occupied each of the niches in the middle storey; a notable peculiarity being the multiplication of the effigies of the person commemorated. Three or four statues of the queen occur in one and the same monument, standing, backs to the central shaft, their faces looking forward in opposite directions. The lowest stage or storey was carved with blind tracery, so designed as to divide, with a vertical moulding, each side, or cant, into two panels, with trefoil cusping in the head, having heraldic shields, one in each panel. The shields respectively bore the arms of (1) England (three leopards only, for the kings of England had not yet arrogated to themselves the sovereignty of France); (2) quarterly, Castile and Leon, the arms of Queen Eleanor's father; and (3) Ponthieu (three bendlets within a bordure), the arms of her mother, Joanna, Countess of Ponthieu, in Picardy.

Not the slightest remains of any of the original crosses exist in situ, except at Geddington, Northampton, and Waltham. Regrettable as is the disappearance of all but three crosses of the series, it is yet a matter for congratulation that those which do happen to survive represent each of them an individual variety of treatment; for, however much they may resemble one another in details, or even in their main scheme and proportions, the difference of plan is a fundamental factor, and such that necessarily results in striking divergences. Geddington cross is triangular, Waltham cross hexagonal, and Northampton cross octagonal on plan. Of these three there can be no question that that at Geddington (Figs. 124 and 125), on account of its triangular section, is the least satisfying aesthetically; indeed, its optical effect is, in certain aspects, decidedly unpleasing. Not only does it look as though part of the fabric were missing, or the whole structure lop-sided, but the anomalous position of the shafts, or standards, rising at each outer angle right before the face of the figures, gives the latter a caged appearance, and, by intercepting a direct view of them, infallibly detracts from the prominence which is their proper due. The triangular shape, then, is more diverting as an ingenious planning experiment than admirable as a model for reproduction. In plain words, it is an architectural eccentricity. Again, Geddington cross, encrusted as is the entire surface with sculptured diaper patterns, and lacking as it does the dignified reticence of contrasted plain spaces, such as occur in Northampton (Figs. 1 and 126) and Waltham (Figs. 127, 128, and 129) crosses, must compare unfavourably with either of them. Whoever the designer of Geddington cross may have been, it is certain he was not the artist that Battle or Crundale was, to whose genius the crosses of Northampton and Waltham respectively are owing.

Royal account rolls, extant down to the year 1293, throw considerable light on the progress of the work, the identity of the artists engaged on it, and the cost of their services, as well as of the material used. But the particulars of the several undertakings are not always kept distinct, so that it is difficult, if not impossible, to disentangle the precise amount of the cost of any individual cross. John, of Battle, a master mason, contracted for his share of the work of a number of crosses, viz., at Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, and St Albans, for £95 each. The imagery and much of the ornamental sculpture was executed in London. The figures of the queen, for the crosses of Lincoln and Northampton, were the work of William, of Ireland; while Alexander, of Abingdon, another image maker, provided the statues for other crosses, the figures all being produced at a uniform rate of five marks, or £3. 6s. 8d. each. Purbeck marble, from the quarries at Corfe, was used for parts of the crosses at Lincoln, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, and Charing.

The first of the stopping-places at which crosses were erected was Lincoln. The Eleanor cross there "stood on Swine Green, opposite the Gilbertine Priory of St Catherine, where the queen's body rested." The cross was built by Richard, of Stowe, otherwise Gainsborough, then master mason of the works of the cathedral. From time to time, during the years 1291 to 1293, he received payments, amounting to £106. 13s. 4d., for the king's work. The statues, and some of the carved ornament for the cross, were executed at Westminster by William, of Ireland, called in the accounts "Imaginator" i.e., image maker. William, as mentioned above, received £3. 6s. 8d. each for the statues of the queen; while the ornaments for the head of the cross seem to have cost £13. It is computed that the total cost of the cross at Lincoln amounted to about £134. Not a vestige of it now remains.

The cross at Grantham, Lincolnshire, stood in an open space on the London road, at a place called Peter Church Hill. Dr William Stukeley, in 1776, recorded that the people had some memory of it in his time; and, moreover, he was shown "a stone carved with foliage work, said to be part of it." All remains of the cross have long since vanished.

In his account of Stamford, Lincolnshire, printed in 1646, Richard Butcher says: "Not far from High Dike, on the north side of the town of Stamford, near unto York highway, and about twelve score from the Towngate, called Clement Gate, stands an ancient cross of freestone, of a very curious fabric, having many scutcheons insculped in the stone about it, as the arms of Castile and Leon quartered ... and divers other hatchments," of which "only the ruins appear to the eye." In the edition of 1659, the cross is referred to in the past tense, showing that it had been removed in the interval. R. Symond, in a note dated August 1645, writes: "On the hill, before ye come to the town (of Stamford), stands a lofty, large cross.... Upon the top of this cross these three shields are often carved: (1) England, (2) Ponthieu, (3) Castile and Leon quarterly." The cross was pulled down by the soldiers of the Parliament during the Civil War, but the foundations were laid bare, in the process of excavations conducted by Dr Stukeley, while vicar of All Saints, Stamford, 1729 to 1747.

The Eleanor cross at Geddington, Northamptonshire, is still standing, in the middle of a wide space in the village. The principal part of the material is Weldon stone, but the string courses and weatherings are of Stanion stone, which has a slightly harder texture. The cross is raised on eight hexagonal steps; it comprises three storeys, and is little short of 42 ft. in height. As may be seen by the plan (in which the spaces A, B, and C represent the situation of the figures), the middle stage is so placed in relation to that beneath it that its outer angles correspond with the middle of each side in the lower stage. The base is a triangle of equal sides; each 5 ft. 1 in. wide. The royal accounts, which are wanting from the year 1294 onward, contain no entry referring to Geddington cross; whence it has been inferred that the latter could not have been erected until 1294 or after. Tradition says that a favourite sport of the place used to be squirrel-baiting. A sufficient number of wild squirrels having been caught for the purpose, would be turned loose in the village, where the crowds, surrounding them in a ring, with shouts and all manner of hideous noises, proceeded to hunt and beat their helpless victims to death. Sometimes the terrified little creatures would vainly seek refuge by running up the cross and trying to hide behind the pinnacles and tabernacle work. But their cruel tormentors ruthlessly dislodged them thence, pelting them with stones until they were driven forth and killed. The only marvel, in the circumstances, is that any part of the original stonework of the cross should have survived such reckless violence. The cross was repaired in 1800, and again in 1890.

The famous Eleanor cross of Northampton (Figs. 1, 126) stands about a mile distant from the town, and actually in the parish of Hardingston. The monument is picturesquely placed on a roadside bank, with a fine background of trees. The spot was chosen because DelaprÉ, close by, a house of Cluniac nuns, afforded the funeral procession a convenient halt for the night. For the more solid parts of the cross, as distinct from its ornamental detail, Barnack stone seems to have been used. The mason responsible for the design, as already mentioned, was John, of Battle. The sculptor, William, of Ireland, was paid £25 for his work, including the ornamental carvings and the four statues (nearly 6 ft. high) of the queen at £3. 6s. 8d. apiece. The distinctive feature of this cross, not known to have occurred on any other of the series, is an open book carved on every alternate one of the eight sides of the lowest storey. The latter is about 14 ft. high, the next storey above it 12 ft. high. At the present day there are nine steps, all octagonal on plan. Formerly there were seven, while the engraving in Vetusta Monumenta, 1791, depicts eight steps. What was the original termination of this cross will never be known. It disappeared so long ago that, even in 1460, the monument was spoken of as "crux sine capite." The first recorded "restoration" of the cross took place in 1713. At the Quarter Sessions in that year the Justices authorised the expenditure of a sum not exceeding £30 on repairing the cross, which accordingly underwent thorough "restoration" and partial rebuilding. There was then erected on the summit a stone cross paty, 3 ft. high, while gnomons for sundials, facing the four cardinal points, were fixed to the tracery of the topmost storey. Also, on the west side of the bottom storey were placed the arms of Queen Anne and a marble tablet, with a long inscription in Latin. Further repairs were effected in 1762; and the cross was renovated once again, under the direction of the architect, Edward Blore, in 1840. The commemorative tablets and the modern cross on the summit were then removed, a broken shaft being erected in place of the cross paty. Blore, at the same time, renewed the ornamental cresting, one of the gables, and much of the substantial stonework of the cross; and he recut all but two of the armorial shields. In 1884 further repairs were effected, consisting mainly of the renewal and strengthening of the decayed platform steps. In March 1900 the care and maintenance of the cross were formally vested in the County Council.