Covent Garden Market
Photo: C Ford, GNU Free Documentation License
Covent Garden is a district surrounding the Covent Garden railway station in the City of London. 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. Covent Garden is officially recognised as the very centre of London, and all distances to London are measured from the location where the original Eleanor cross was built.
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 Covent Garden 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 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 Covent Garden Station. Mileages from London are measured from the site of the original cross."
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