Hardingstone Cross

The Hardingstone Cross is one of twelve Eleanor Crosses and situated just outside Northampton, England. It is one of the three remaining that are almost intact. It has stood since 1294 in the village of Hardingstone at the edge of the Benedictine Delapré Abbey. Although the abbey existed at the time of the cortege, it was a convent and so Edward stayed at nearby Northampton Castle.

To reach Hardingstone, the funeral procession verged westward toward Watling Street. A more direct route would have been to stay on Ermine Street. But Edward's close friend at the time was the Bishop of Cluny, and since Delapré Abbey was a Cluniac nunnery, it must have been comforting for him to have Eleanor's body rest there.

It is presumed a cross topped the monument and precisely when that disappeared is unknown, but the top was bare at the time of the bloody Battle of Northampton on 10 July 1460.