A Son of the Rock

Edward I of England, known as Edward Longshanks, and also Malleus Scotorum or Hammer of the Scots may have been a Middle Ages hard man but it seems he loved his wife, Eleanor of Castile. When she died at Lincoln he had her bodytransported to London for burial and at each stop along the way ordered that a cross be erected in her memory. These are known as Eleanor Crosses.

On our trip down south last summer we were so close to two of these we had to photograph them.

The first was at Hardingstone just south of Northampton:-

There is an inscription (pretty much unreadable) in the stone on the wall behind the Cross:-

The inscribed words are reproduced on the plaque:-

Another descriptive plaque is on a pedestal nearby:-