The cross at Charing was the work of Richard de Crundale. He was
responsible for the design of this cross, but his design no doubt
influenced the ideas of the other builders, for we know that much of the
finer work of the other crosses was executed under his observation. Most
of the statues of the Queen were carved near Charing, and many of the
ornaments so frequently referred to as the “virgæ, capita et annuli,”
were also made by the Westminster artists. The cross was built
approximately on the plot of ground now occupied by the statue of
Charles I, facing the great thoroughfare now known as “Charing Cross.”
Richard Crundale himself died in 1293, and Roger Crundale came from
Waltham to carry on his work. Nearly £700 can be traced as being paid to
the Crundales for their work at Charing, but this sum obviously includes
work done and materials supplied for other crosses. The finer materials
used in the construction of the crosses, such as Caen stone, Purbeck
stone and marble, seem to have been distributed to the other crosses by
way of Charing. Considerable additional sums of money are mentioned as
being paid to merchants of stone, such as William Canon, Robert Blunt,
and others who brought the stone from Corfe, and Henry Mauger who
supplied stone from Caen. Alexander of Abingdon, the “Imaginator,”
carved the statues of the Queen for Charing; William of Ireland, also
working at Charing, carved the statues of the Queen which found their
way to the crosses built by John Battle and Richard Stowe; while Ralph
of Chichester carved much of the fine stonework for the crosses.
Unfortunately no adequate idea can now be obtained of Charing Cross. It
is admitted, however, to have been the finest of the series; but it must
have been subject to the same vicissitudes as its neighbour in Chepe,
and the sketches which exist, purporting to be Charing Cross, can only
have been obtained from the mutilated structure which survived to the
middle of the seventeenth century. The drawing in the Crowle Collection
of the British Museum, which has been reproduced by Wilkinson, is one of
these. The suggestion of the cross in van den Wyngaerde’s view of London
gives, perhaps, a better idea of its probable appearance.[52] John
Norden’s account is that of an eye witness, and tells of its condition
about the year 1590. He speaks of it as “an old weather-beaten monument
erected about 1290 by Edward I. Amongst all the crosses which the King
caused to be built ... Charing Cross was most stately, though now
defaced by antiquity.”[53]
Footnote 52:
_Vide_ fig. 1.
Footnote 53:
John Norden. MS. Harl. 570 (_circ._ 1593), quoted by Lethaby; cf.
“Speculum Britanniæ, the first parte,” 1593, p. 45, and the maps of
London.
[Illustration:
FIG. 19.
The fragments of two panels of the Cross in Chepe, City of London, now
in the Guildhall Museum. The panels show the heraldic bearings of
England, and of Castile and Leon, with portions of moulding. These
relics are probably portions of the Cross as restored by John
Hatherley in the fifteenth century. From a drawing by Mr. J. C.
Hallinan.
]
Charing Cross suffered many indignities in the Parliamentary period.
After many years of neglect, it was sentenced by Parliament to be taken
down in 1643. An old rhyme mentions the event:—
“The Parliament to vote it down
Conceived it very fitting,
For fear it should fall and kill them all
In the house as they were sitting.
They were told God wot, it had a plot,
It made them so hard-hearted,
To give command it should not stand,
But be taken down and carted.”
Lilly,[54] writing in 1715, says that part of the stones were employed
in paving the front of Whitehall, whilst some other stones were made
into knife hafts and other articles which, when polished, looked like
marble.
Footnote 54:
Lilly, “Observations on the Life of King Charles I.” _cf._ Edward
Walford, “Old and New London,” iii, pp. 123 _et seq._
The cross in the forecourt of the South Eastern Railway station at
Charing Cross was erected from the designs of the late Mr. Edward
Middleton Barry in 1864-1865, and is the result of his own desire to
have the opportunity of reproducing the Eleanor memorial at Charing. Mr.
Barry was a learned as well as a distinguished architect, and visited
Northampton and Waltham Crosses many times before deciding on the design
of the monument he proposed to erect. It is well worthy of careful study
as expressing the ideas formed by a conscientious artist and student of
the appearance of the old cross; especially it shows the desire to give
the idea of the original builders, and to avoid the travesties of
construction which have not infrequently been erected purporting to be
after the fashion of an Eleanor Cross. Unhappily the motive which
renders the crosses at Geddington, Northampton and Waltham so entirely
appropriate, and which adds so much to their interest, cannot be
transferred to the new site.[55]
Footnote 55:
The author is indebted for information respecting Mr. Barry’s cross to
Mr. T. Harrison Myres, of Preston, who was one of Mr. Barry’s pupils
in 1864, and afterwards his confidential clerk.