One of three funeral crosses Edward I raised for his queen in the 1290s, Geddington's is the best preserved, and the only triangular one
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Carved figures of Eleanor of Castile stand under stone canopies partway up this slender triangular spire, put up by Edward I to mark one of the overnight stops on his wife’s funeral procession. Eleanor of Castile died at the Nottinghamshire village of Harby in 1290, and her husband had a cross built at every place the cortège rested for the night on its way south to Westminster Abbey. Only three of those crosses survive complete, and this one, at Geddington, has come through in the best condition. The other two are at Hardingstone, on Northampton’s edge, and at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire. The Geddington cross stands where several roads meet in the village, so keep an eye on passing traffic while you look up at it. Sir Thomas Tresham’s three-sided Rushton Triangular Lodge is a short drive west.
