"Waltham Cross" (1787)

Social History (Museum of St Albans)

2006.6914

Engraving entitled "Waltham Cross". Made and published October 10th, 1787 by J Seago, Print Seller, High Street, St Giles, London. Text reads: "This Cross and several others was [sic.] erected by order of King Edward 1st to the Memory of his / faithful and beloved Consort Queen Eleanor who died in 1291 at Hareby in Lincolnshire." The central feature is of course the Cross erected near one of the resting places of Queen Eleanor's body on its journey from Lincoln to London in 1291. Here it is seen in its dilapidated before a heavy restoration in Victorian times Just as interesting from another point of view is the traffic. The travellers in the post-chaise (carrying mail and passengers) have stopped on their journey from London while the ostler from the Falcon Inn, on the corner, feeds their two horses. The post-chaise stop is advertised on the sign beam across the road Afterwards they will go on towards Cambridge; the man on horseback has turned the towards Waltham Abbey. For years the Cross has served more as a traffic roundabout than a memorial. Now it has been pedestrianised, but it is also overwhelmed by the scale and ugliness of the buildings around it.

1787

ph8668

120 transparency

1) Photo Studio

Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK.

PWD Box 4 (blue).

Herts Before the Car, 2001