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Plaque marking the spot where London distances are measured from
On the pavement a few feet behind an equestrian statue of Charles I that sits on a traffic island just south of Trafalgar Square, there is a plaque:
On the site now occupied by the statue of King Charles was erected the original Queen Eleanor's Cross, a replica of whch stands in front of Charing Cross station. Mileages from London are measured from the site of the original cross.When Queen Eleanor of Castile died in 1290, Edward I commissioned twelve crosses, each at one of the stopping places on her body's procession from Lincoln to Westminster. The original cross was replaced, then demolished (the stone being re-used used to make paving along Whitehall, round the corner), and in 1863 a rather ornate version (not strictly a replica) was put up in front of Charing Cross railway station, a couple of hundred yards away. Mileage distances on road signage are still measured from this point.
