Lines Suggested by a Sight of Waltham Cross
Charles Lamb
Time-mouldering crosses, gemmed with imagery
Of costliest work and Gothic tracery,
Point still the spot, to hallowed Wedlock dear,
Where rested on its solemn way the bier
That bore the bones of Edward's Elinor
To mix with Royal dust at Westminster.
Far different rites did thee to dust consign,
Duke Brunswick's daughter, princely Caroline:
A hurrying funeral, and a banished grave,
High-minded Wife, were all that thou couldst have.
Grieve not, great Ghost, nor count in death in losses;
Thou in thy life-time hadst thy share of crosses
This cross in is one of the "Eleanor Crosses", commissioned by King Edward I of England between 1291 and 1294 in memory of his wife Queen Eleanor. Eleanor of Castile died in Nottinghamshire in 1290 and her body was transported to London for burial in Westminster Abbey. Her mourning husband had a cross erected in each of the 12 overnight stops on the journey.
These crosses were originally wooden, but were later rebuilt in stone. Only Waltham Cross and two others are still extant. The last cross - at Charing Cross is a more ornate replica built in 1865.
Caroline of Brunswick was the wife of George IV. She was separated from her husband for many years, though he failed in his attempts to divorce her. Her funeral procession inevitably had nothing of the pomp of Eleanor's.
Main Location:
Eleanor Cross, Waltham Cross, High Street, Hertfordshire, England
The Eleanor Cross erected by Edward I in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
Image by Nigel Cox, licensed under Creative Commons.