Eleanor Cross is a Grade I listed building in the Broxbourne local planning authority area, England. First listed on 11 June 1954. A Built for Edward I (commemorative cross for Eleanor of Castile) Cross.
Eleanor Cross
- WRENN ID
- standing-casement-clover
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Broxbourne
- Constituency
- Broxbourne MP: Lewis Cocking (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 11 June 1954
- Type
- Cross
- Address
- Eleanor Cross, High Street
- OS grid reference
- TL 360 003
- Coordinates
- 51.68583, -0.03298
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Eleanor Cross is a Grade I listed structure located on the east side of High Street in Waltham Cross. It was sculpted by Alexander of Abingdon, with masonry work by Nicholas Dyminge de Reyne and Roger Crundale. This cross is one of the three remaining crosses built for King Edward I to mark the resting places of his deceased queen, Eleanor of Castile.
The cross features three stages, topped by a pinnacle and a cross. The second and third stages were rebuilt between 1832 and 1833 by W. B. Clarke, again from 1885 to 1892 by C. E. Ponting, and once more from 1950 to 1953. The current statues are replicas. The structure has a hexagonal plan.
The lowest stage includes shields, blank two-light arches, crocketed gables, and diapered spandrels on each face, along with a leaf cornice and a pierced quatrefoil parapet. The middle stage showcases three draped statues in niches that alternate with open triangular canopies, all topped with crocketed gables, pinnacles, and leaf finials. The third stage features single, blank, traceried arches on each face, also adorned with gables and finials.
The cross stands on a three-step base, which is surrounded by late 19th-century spiked iron railings with flower finials on the corner posts. It is also designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Local climate
Eleanor Cross sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 31 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 63% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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