Charing Cross

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Charing Cross is located at the junction of the Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street in Central London, England. The name originates from the cross put there by King Edward I as as a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile at the former hamlet of Charing. Since 1675 the site of the cross has been occupied by a statue of King Charles I mounted on a horse. Charing Cross is officially recognised as the centre of London; distances to London are measured to the location of the original Eleanor cross. Charing Cross is marked on contemporary maps as a road junction, though it was previously also a postal address denoting the stretch of road between Great Scotland Yard and Trafalgar Square. Since 1 January 1931 this section of road has been designated as part of the Whitehall thoroughfare.

Official use as central point

Legislation from the early 19th century used Charing Cross as a central point for defining its scope. Its later use in legislation waned in favour of providing a schedule of local government areas and became mostly obsolete with the official creation of Greater London in 1965.

Use	Scope
Metropolitan Police District	The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 made provision that all parishes within 12 miles could be added. This was expanded to 15 miles by the Metropolitan Police Act 1839.
Metropolitan Buildings Office	The London Building Act 1844 allowed that any place within 12 miles could be added to the area of responsibility.
The Knowledge	Streets within a six-mile radius are included in taxi driver training.

Charing Cross Arches

Since the railway was built, the arches beneath Charing Cross railway station have provided refuge for some of London’s marginal groups, wary of a hostile public reaction to their way of life. In the early twentieth century, the arches and Charing Cross station concourse were notorious cruising sites. They also provided shelter for many of London’s single homeless people drifting between hostels and the streets and sleeping rough in cardboard boxes. In 1979 the arches became home to ‘’Heaven’’, one of the best known gay nightclubs in Central London.

Charing Cross arches were the inspiration for the popular song performed by the famous duo Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen. They were also the focal point for the influential radio documentary, Underneath the Arches, which alerted public attention to the plight of homeless people.

Nearest places

Nearest tube stations

Nearest railway stations

References

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Last updated on Saturday March 01, 2008 at 07:03:51 PST (GMT -0800)
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