The Victorian church of All Saints, Harby. This is a replacement of the medieval church in the village. © Julian P Guffogg (cc-by-sa/2.0
On the evening of this day the 28th of November 1290, beloved Queen Eleanor died here in Harby, in a manor house near the medieval village church. It was Tuesday. She was 49. Overcome with grief, her husband, Edward I stayed in Harby for about three days after Eleanor’s death. He then embarked on a 21-day funeral procession en route to London and Westminster. The king and his chancellors arranged to set up 12 memorial crosses, one in each of the villages where the procession stopped to rest. Whether erected at a crossroads or on a high street, the crosses were designed to be seen from a distance.
The Eleanor Cross at Geddington, the finest surviving cross, is in the care of English Heritage
But the monuments move beyond illustrations of Eleanor the woman, or physical statements of Edward’s grief. They are a bold manifestation of the power and majesty of monarchy, with saint-like images of Eleanor looking down at the crossroads and market-places of southern and eastern England.
Detail from William Torel’s remarkable cast bronze effigy of Eleanor on her tomb in Westminster Abbey
© Photo by Angelo Hornak/Corbis via Getty Images
Invitation to the Garden 