IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Glastonbury Road, NORTHAMPTON, NN4 8BB

Sneaking off past a transformer station (left) to pass between the back gardens of houses on Parkfield Avenue and London Road.

1950s semis in Delepre.

This historic 13th-century monument (see Image for details) is in an incongruous position beside a busy main road on the outskirts of Northampton. Queen Eleanor's body rested at nearby Image

One of three surviving crosses, circa 1290, erected on the orders of Edward I, to commemorate each resting place of the funeral cortege bringing Eleanor's body to Westminster Abbey from Lincoln Cathedral.

Looking towards Northampton town centre from the junction with Parkfield Avenue, with Queen Eleanor's Cross visible on the right on the edge of Delapre Park.

Queen Eleanor died near Lincoln in 1290. King Edward I had her body moved to Westminster and 12 crosses were erected at the sites where they rested overnight on the journey. There are three surviving crosses, including the one in Northampton.

When Eleanor of Castile, the first wife of Edward I, died in 1290 at Harby near Lincoln, the king ordered the building of a series of twelve lavishly decorated and elegant memorial crosses to mark each of the resting places of his wife’s funeral procession as it travelled from Lincoln to her burial place at Westminster Abbey, London. Only three of the twelve crosses which were erected remain standing today; they are at Geddington, Waltham and here at Hardingstone, Northampton. The cross at Northampton is the only surviving one which included statuary by the royal sculptor William of Ireland, who worked on four other Eleanor crosses which have since been destroyed. In its architectural and sculptural detail, the octagonal cross is a rare and well-documented example of mediæval stone carving of the highest quality. It features carved figures that stand beneath a canopy at the top. The cross at the very top of the monument is missing and was recorded as missing as early as the middle of the 15th century. It has the unique feature of an open book carved on four alternating sides of the lower tier. The cross is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Historic England List entry Number: 1015536 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1015536 ) and a Grade I listed building (Historic England List entry Number: 1039797 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1039797 ). It stands on a grassy knoll beside the busy A508 (London Road).

Some of the riders on the famous Queen Eleanor Cycle Ride 2014.