By ALFRED POPE. 



( Read February 19th t 1907. 



T the invitation of your Honorary Secretary I have 

 brought for exhibition from my general collection 

 of Crosses, a series of plates of those Queen 

 Eleanor Crosses which still remain standing ; 

 and, although they may not be of local interest, 

 yet I hope their antiquarian merit, their beauty 

 of design and fair proportions, and the interest- 

 ing and touching story attending their erection, 

 may be a sufficient excuse for my travelling somewhat beyond the 

 purview for which this Club was established. 



Before I proceed to point out the beauty and variety of design 

 of these far-famed monuments I think I may be excused if I 

 repeat shortly the well-known story of their erection. 



Queen Eleanor was the daughter of Ferdinand III. of Castile 

 by Joanna, Countess of Ponthieu, and in 1254 was betrothed to 

 Prince Edward, eldest son of King Henry III., she being at the 

 time in her tenth year and Prince Edward five years older. She 

 remained in France till her twentieth year, in order to complete 

 her education, and came to England to join her husband on the 

 2Qth October, 1265. She was a lovely, accomplished, and 

 beautiful woman, and received a most enthusiastic welcome 

 from the citizens of London on her arrival, and took up her 

 abode with Prince Edward at Windsor, 



