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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you know what an Eleanor Cross is?

308 replies

HotelTangoFoxtrotUniform · 19/07/2013 08:11

Without resorting to google?

I was made to feel a bit of an arse for not knowing what it was last night and wanted to know if my education had been lacking of if the guy was being a smug git. And yes, I know the guy was being a smug git for pointing out publicly that I didn't know, but I want to know if its something I should have paid more attention to at school be aware of.

AIBU to ask you if you've heard of it before? And have you?

OP posts:
ProphetOfDoom · 19/07/2013 21:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hashtagwhatever · 19/07/2013 21:02

Nope. In my 28 years this is the first time I am hearing of one

sittinginthesun · 19/07/2013 21:05

I'm feeling all nostalgic for my hometown now!

In Northampton, we always called it Queen Eleanor's Cross (sounds funny to call it Eleanor Cross). It was a local landmark, and people would use it to give directions etc.

We all grew up knowing the story, and were told it at a school later.

The cross at Geddington is lovely. Mind you, last time I was there I was drunk on a 6th form field trip...naughty Trinity School boys led us astray. Wink

WafflyVersatile · 19/07/2013 21:09

Next time you see him bring up the famous Giro. If he doesn't know who Giro is then you can scoff at him. I mean I know about Giro. And now you know about Giro so if he doesn't he must be thick.

www.tiredoflondontiredoflife.com/2011/01/seek-out-grave-of-giro-nazi-dog.html

Boomba · 19/07/2013 21:16

pfft! i had no idea...just googled it. They are all in no-where places. It isnt a particularly 'lovely' or even very interesting story! I suprised anyone does know what an Elaenor Cross is tbh Confused

WhiteBirdBlueSky · 19/07/2013 21:17

Nope.

CitizenOscar · 19/07/2013 21:19

I didn't know, although the story does sound vaguely familiar now I read it, so maybe it's something I used to know!

And I'm a mid-30s londoner with a first class history-related Oxbridge degree (albeit not UK history, and not medieval) who's commuted on the northern line for the best part of a decade.

It is a great story but relatively obscure. And also what everyone else said about being an arse for making you feel stupid about missing knowledge anyway.

pussycatwillum · 19/07/2013 21:19

Nowhere places Boomba? Wash your mouth out.

burberryqueen · 19/07/2013 21:24

They are all in no-where places
err Charing Cross is a "nowhere place"???? ok!
and St Albans...? one of the oldest Roman cities in Britain?
one wonders where boomba hails from!

EugenesAxe · 19/07/2013 21:26

Yeah I do actually, but it is IN NO WAY anything I'd rib someone for not knowing. I'm interested in London history and British history in general - Charing Cross pops up in the former, and all the other ones tend to be mentioned in any generic book of the latter.

LifeHuh · 19/07/2013 21:30

I knew about them- years of travelling to Charing Cross and family friends who lived near another. I have no idea how I knew though, not school, it must have been from my Mum or from reading too many historical novels as a child!
It doesn't come into the category of historical facts everyone should know for me!

Boomba · 19/07/2013 21:32

Grin pussycat

PenelopeLane · 19/07/2013 21:36

I was made to feel like a freak at work recently when, after it coming up in a quiz, I knew the exact date of the Norman Conquest rather than just the year. But then, never heard of the crosses. So, I have no idea which bits of knowledge is more unusual.

Matsikula · 19/07/2013 21:37

I didn't know, despite being a life-long Londoner with a history degree. I did know though that Charing Cross is where the centre of London is traditionally measured from.

I'm a lot more bothered that I can't really remember anything about Edward. Anything pre-wars of the roses fell into the 'make a motte and bailey out of papier mache' years.

frumpet · 19/07/2013 21:55

No ,but i am a northerner Smile

BOF · 19/07/2013 22:02

I assumed it was a brand of pushchair. I've never heard of most of them either, mind Grin

SuperiorCat · 19/07/2013 22:21

Lucky you on both counts Monster

40ShillingsOnTheDrum · 19/07/2013 22:48

We're not a nowhere place, we have the viscera!

Won't anyone think of the poor viscera!

SneezySnatcher · 19/07/2013 22:50

MissMilliment I, too, know about Eleanor Crosses from reading Jean Plaidy (worked my way through my mum's copies aged 10).

BlackandGold · 19/07/2013 22:54

I know, but only because of the one in Northampton.

Charing Cross didn't even occur to me!

NurseRatchet · 19/07/2013 23:10

Never heard of them. Some of the smuggers up thread might like to know there is also a Charing Cross in glamorous Birkenhead!

WafflyVersatile · 19/07/2013 23:11

WE HAVE THE VISCERA!! Grin

SixPackWellies · 20/07/2013 06:28

Asked DH and our guests. I was not educated in the UK but they went to naice public schools and Oxbridge and neither of them knew.

And then we clued into why the tube station at Charing Cross has all those medieval pictures on it. Grin

So we have all learnt something.

40ShillingsOnTheDrum · 20/07/2013 06:55

Do I see a viscera sister on the thread!

WafflyVersatile · 20/07/2013 07:33

No. I am just impressed by your enthusiasm.

Can one go visit the viscera? Is it lying shrivelled in a box?