Charing Cross, London

Charing Cross is officially recognised as the very centre of London. It is located at the point where the Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street meet in Central London, at a district surrounding the Charing Cross railway station. The name came about because King Edward I placed a cross as a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile, at the hamlet of Charing. All distances to London are measured from the location where the original Eleanor cross was built.

Charing Cross Station and Thistle Charing Cross Hotel, with the Eleanor Cross on the right
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barge_on_River_Thames,_London_-_Dec_2009.jpg
Author: David Iliff


There were originally 12 Eleanor crosses marking the twelve locations that Eleanor's coffin rested on its funeral procession from Lincolnshire to Wesminster. Of these, only 3 remain. The one in front of Charing Cross station is a re-located Victorian version that is designed by architect Edward Middleton Barry; it is larger and more ornate than the original.

The cross's original located was at the village of Charing, which was at the top of Whitehall, at the south of Trafalgar Square. That particular spot has since 1675 been occupied by the statue of King Charles I mounted on a horse. There is a plaque there that reads, "On the site now occupied by the statue of King Charles was erected the original Queen Eleanor's Cross, a replica of which stands in front of Charing Cross Station. Mileages from London are measured from the site of the original cross."

Nearest stations of the London Underground stations to Charing Cross include the Charing Cross Tube Station, Embankment Tube Station, Leicester Square Tube Station, Waterloo Tube Station and Westminster Tube Station.

Nearby Places

Location Map of Charing Cross

List of Places in London

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

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