Shortly after this event, Queen Eleanor died (S216). The King showed
the devoted love he bore her in the beautiful crosses of carved stone
that he raised to her memory, three of which still stand.[1] These
were erected at the places where her coffin was set down, in its
transit from Grantham, in Lincolnshire, where she died, to the little
village of Charing (now Charing Cross, the geographical center of
London). This was the last station before her body reached its final
resting place, in that abbey at Westminster which holds such wealth of
historic dust. Around Queen Eleanor's tomb wax lights were kept
constantly burning, until the Protestant Reformation extinguished
them, nearly three hundred years later.
[1] Originally there were thirteen of these crosses. Of these, three
remain: namely, at Northampton, at Geddington, near by, and at
Waltham, about twelve miles northeast of London.