Talk:Charing Cross/Archive 1

Dear Queen?
"Charing Cross" is a corruption of "cher reine cross", that being French for "dear queen" Does anyone else think this is cackamamie? I'm often wrong. Wetman 06:00, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

First reference to this street is as "cyrringe" dated 1002 (S:903) and "la Cherring’ (1198) meaning 'turn, bend’ (in road) from West Saxon cierring. So can not be named after Queen Eleanor. (see Mx:167, Gelling 1954, Ekwall 1962:175, Mills 2001:44). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.41.184.208 (talk) 10:05, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * There is a Charing in Kent, near Ashford. Derivation is either "bend in the road" - so the bit in the article about "bend in the river" might not be quite correct, but alludes to the road by the river maybe? 2nd alternative may be ‘place associated with a man called Ceorra’. Both above according to the BBC see here. Nothing about queen, I'm afraid! Peter Shearan 13:24, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

"Chère Reine" is the correct French form. John O'Farrell claims that the name Charing Cross derives from Edward I traveling with the funeral cortège of his dear wife Queen Eleanor "all the way to London, ordering an ornate stone cross be erected at every point at which they stayed: Lincoln, Waltham Cross and finally Charing Cross". 7 October 2008

Alternative spelling? "On this marriage, Reginald de Mohun gave... all his Soke of Mohun and advowsons of churches within the city of London and without, between the bridge of Flete and La Cherreinge." - Proceedings (1849) by Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Mfatik (talk) 18:49, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

Conflicting
(1) The name Charing Cross, now given to a mainline railway station and the surrounding district of central London, comes from the original hamlet of Charing, originally in the area of the modern day station.

(2) The name Charing Cross derives from the old English word charing, meaning a bend in the river; thus, the Charing Cross is "the cross by the village at the bend in the river".

The second suggestion is at least consistent - 'char' does relate to a turn or bend (incidently we still use the word today for tea-lady, deriving from a person that does good 'turns' or 'chores'). So Edward's cross goes down near a bend (in the river or a road perhaps), the landmark is established and the area becomes known as Charing Cross. The 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica says the origin is unknown although the cher reine theory is mentioned. AtomBoy 01:32, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Surely the word Char lady comes from the fact that Tea is known colloqiually as Char, from the Mandarin word chá (茶). Y control 12:31, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

The word charwoman has nothing to do with tea or Mandarin and predates the introduction of tea to Britain and is in any case incidental to this Charing Cross entry. Check the OED for charwoman etc. if you are interested. I'm going to hoist out the Charing hamlet reference until someone comes up with a substantive reference. AtomBoy 21:46, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

The map
Whats going on with the map? It looks fine to me. MRSC 20:28, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Exact centre of London
The article states that Charing Cross is "officially recognized as the exact centre of London". I've added a "fact" tag to the "officially" bit. It seems to be so (certainly throughout WP articles on London), but it is not clear what "officials" are recognizing CC as the centre.

It looks like someone has since added a link to a BBC article. Thanks! 82.27.243.53 19:04, 15 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I've knocked that off as the BBC article does not itself seem to quote anything official but just a "tradition". I can't find any official appointment of Charing Cross as a reference point, even on the DfT site. Older maps often used St. Paul's Cathedral (or sometimes the Monument?) as the "centre" and that is where road-numbering kicked off from. The main "heavy-duty" users of Charing Cross as a measurement point seem to be the Civil Service and I suspect that they are to blame, possibly via the Ordnance Survey or otherwise by selecting a measurement point more central to where they tended to gather.--MBRZ48 (talk) 05:46, 23 April 2008 (UTC)--MBRZ48 (talk) 05:46, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Moreover, the claim that all Greater London residential roads start their numbers from the end closest to Charing Cross is simply not true. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.78.192.122 (talk) 11:34, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Hickes Hall and centre of London. If you look at the Hickes Hall article it is clear that no such claim is made for it - it was simply from where the milages were tallied along the Great North Road. Moreover, when built it was not 'in London' as it was in Clerkenwell Middlesex outside of the City of London, there being no other 'London' meaning at that date. However, I can clarify the Charing Cross reference as the 'centre': The Metroploitan Police Carriage Office for Hackney Carriage (ie London Licensed Taxi Cabs) used it from which to measure the Licence areas - originally six miles - which was important both for regulating the trade and also for the 'off the taximeter' clock fares that could be charged beyond that boundary. That is the sole use as this as the datum point unless someone can find another with this as a practical application. Over the years even that status disappeared because of the creation of Greater London. Tony S 88.108.227.98 (talk) 11:41, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

"nearest places"
Nearest places


 * Trafalgar Square
 * Soho
 * Holborn
 * Mayfair
 * Bloomsbury

Nearest tube stations


 * Charing Cross tube station
 * Embankment tube station
 * Leicester Square tube station
 * Waterloo station
 * Westminster tube station

Nearest railway stations


 * Charing Cross railway station
 * Waterloo East station
 * Waterloo station

What is the point of that whole section? What connection do Holborn, Mayfair etc have with Charing Cross? Holborn station is nearly a mile away. And why would you go to Westminster station if you were heading for Charing Cross? Lfh 10:36, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I've trimmed the transport back a little. Nearest places is still a bit confused, Covent Garden is between Soho and the area; Strand/Aldwych is to the east; Whitehall to the sw; the Mall to the w; Waterloo and the river to the s ... Kbthompson (talk) 11:50, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
 * OK replaced with a compass wheel. It should make more sense, except Covent Garden is NNE! Feel free if you've got any better ideas. Kbthompson (talk) 12:03, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Regarding Charing Cross
I grew up from birth to 30 years old in the rural area of Charing Cross. Small village of about 500 people south of Chatham Ontario Canada. I now live in Chatham. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wsummerfield (talk • contribs) 15:39, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Charing Cross / New Ross
Charing Cross is also the original name of a village in Nova Scotia, Canada founded by a British soldier, Captain William Ross, in the late 18th century, later called Sherbrooke, then renamed again to New Ross. The center of the village is still refered to as "the Cross". The forty British soldiers established a settlement several kilometers away from the Cross known as "the Forties". Near the Cross is an old stone carving / etching that was discovered in the 1980's that has been investigated and linked to the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail conspiracy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.192.84.151 (talk) 02:05, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Residential house numbering in London
I've removed the assertion that "all residential roads in Greater London have the houses numbered such that number 1 is at the end nearest Charing Cross" because it's false. Some streets I'm personally familiar with are numbered the opposite way. For a random example, see Newby Street SW8 on Google Street View.--A bit iffy (talk) 05:24, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Post code
Charing Cross (as the central point of London) gets listed as SW1A by Google/Bing maps, but WC (presumably WC2N) by Wikipedia. I suppose if you think about it, those are the postcodes of surrounding buildings, but the junction itself doesn't have *a* postcode until someone puts a building there that you can mail. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 109.156.119.136 (talk) 23:21, 22 July 2012 (UTC)