[Illustration: The memorial cross that previously stood at Charing
Cross.]
This place has been recently greatly improved by clearing away decaying
houses, and enlarging the space for the public convenience, and for the
display of newly-erected handsome buildings. It derives its name from
having been anciently a village detached from London called _Charing_,
and from a stately _Cross_ erected there by order of Edward I., to
commemorate his affection for Eleanor, his deceased queen. The cross
occupied the last spot on which her body rested in its progress to
sepulture in Westminster Abbey. The other resting-places of her
sumptuous funeral were dignified by similar edifices.
Two centuries and a half ago, Charing Cross was within bowshot of the
open country, all the way to Hampstead and Highgate. North of the Cross
there were only a few houses in front of the Mews, where the King’s
falcons were kept. The Hay-market was a country road, with hedges on
each side, running between pastures. St. Martin’s lane was bounded on
the west side by the high walls of the Mews, and on the other side by a
few houses and by old St. Martin’s church, where the present church
stands. From these buildings it was a quiet country lane, leading to St.
Giles’s, then a pleasant village, situated among fine trees. Holborn was
a mere road between open meadow-land, with a green hedge on the north
side. In the Strand, opposite to St. Martin’s lane, stood the hospital
and gardens of St. Mary Rouncival, a religious establishment founded and
endowed by William Earl of Pembroke, in the reign of Henry III. In the
middle of the road leading to the Abbey, and opposite to Charing Cross,
stood a hermitage and chapel dedicated to St. Catherine.
Charing Cross is represented in the above engraving. It was of an
octagonal form and built of stone, and in an upper stage contained eight
figures. In 1643 it was pulled down and destroyed by the populace, in
their zeal against superstitious edifices. Upon the ground of similar
zeal, Henry VIII. suppressed the religious houses of the kingdom, and
seized their estates and revenues to his own use: the hospital of St.
Mary Rouncival was included in this fate. On its ancient site stands the
palace of the Duke of Northumberland. It was built in the reign of James
I. by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, and during his life was called
Northampton House. In 1642 it came to Algernon, Earl of Northumberland,
by marriage, and since then has been called Northumberland House.
The exact spot upon which Charing Cross stood is occupied by an
equestrian statue of Charles I. in bronze, executed in 1633 by Le Sœur,
for the Earl of Arundel. During the civil wars it fell into the hands of
the Parliament, by whom it was ordered to be sold and broken up. The
purchaser, John River, a brazier, produced some pieces of broken brass,
in token of his having complied with the conditions of sale; and he sold
to the cavaliers the handles of knives and forks as made from the
statue: River deceived both the Parliament and the loyalists; for he had
buried the statue unmutilated. At the restoration of Charles II. he dug
it up, and sold it to the Government; and Grinlin Gibbon executed a
stone pedestal, seventeen feet high, upon which it was placed and still
remains. It has been customary on the 29th of May, the anniversary of
the Restoration, to dress the statue with oaken boughs.
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