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Charing Cross
Not from chère reine, in honour of Eleanor, the dear
wife of Edward I., but la chère reine (the Blessed Virgin).
Hence, in the Close Roll, Richard II, part I (1382), we read that the
custody of the falcons at Charryng, near Westminster, was granted to
Simon Burley, who was to receive 12d. a day from the Wardrobe. A
correspondent in Notes and Queries, Dec. 28th, 1889, p. 507,
suggests the Anglo-Saxon cérran (to turn), alluding to the bend
of the Thames.
“Queen Eleanor died at Harby, Nottinghamshire, and was buried at
Westminster. In every town where the corpse rested the king caused a
cross `of cunning workmanship' to be erected in remembrance of her.
There were fourteen, some say fifteen, altogether. The three which
remain are in capitals: Lincoln, Newark, Grantham, Leicester, Stamford,
GEDDINGTON, NORTHAMPTON, Stony-Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St.
Albans, WALTHAM, West-Cheap (Cheapside), Charing, and (15th Herdly?)”
In front of the South Eastern Railway station (Strand) is a model,
in the original dimensions, of the old cross, which was made of Caen
stone, and was demolished in 1643.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Charing Cross from Infoplease:
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