To ask if you know what an Eleanor Cross is?

[HotelTangoFoxtrotUniform]

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?

Was it Michael Gove?

BTW, if it makes anybody feel better, here's a thought train from when I first moved to London, 20mumble years ago:

(on emerging from Bank tube station) "Hmm, this isn't all that close to the edge of the river, maybe the riverBANK has receded since they named this area .... lalalalala .... Actually, looking around, there's a lot of banks in this area .... lalalala .... Oh wait, fuck, THE Bank."

Yes. It's one of the stories that was in the " wide range readers" that we had at primary I think!

(we also had one in a nearby village)

Forgot to add, this man is a dickhead, it honestly is not something you would expect anyone to know unless they were serious history buffs or it was a local landmark were all the locals knew about it. What a twonk that man is!

Like Pigglepaggle I love medieval history so I know about them (I also live in Northamptonshire where two of them (like Ridersofthestorm said) are and I used to live in Hertfordshire where the third original one is). Without looking it up I think the ones at Waltham Cross, Northampton and Geddington are the last original ones but some of the others are (possibly Victorian?) copies. I think some of them might have been destroyed or damaged during WWII. I think I remember reading that they were made by local craftsmen so they were original in design (I suppose they mean instead of being made and sent from elsewhere but not sure). Like previous posters though I wouldn't expect anyone who was not interested in the era to know and I think it's nice to share things you know with people who don't know!

sinistersal I was just skimming through to see if anyone else had put Cher Reigne Cross for Charing Cross. That was what I was told too. Also that all distances from London are taken from Charing Cross.
I did know about Eleanor crosses because I live not a million miles from Geddington, but I lived in St Albans too (by the Abbey) and had no idea there was one there (mentioned by a previous poster).

Didn't have a clue.

My family are dirty northerners though that's probably why...

Tunip

Hadn't a clue until this thread.

Back to singing (I'm excited, going to go a-Viking this evening).

We arrived upon your English shores
And you offered friendship but we wanted more
Yeah, so much moooorrreee

We're tearing up this place tonight LITERALLY!
We're gonna set this sleepy town alight LITERALLY!
We'll kill and steal and burn and drink
COS US VIKINGS DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, Whoawhoaaaooooo.

Yes, we did it in history at school - pre-GCSE I think so on a general syllabus - so I guess on that basis quite a few people would have learned about them?

No excuse for smuggery though

I knew but only because i had the misfortune to spend some of my childhood in Waltham Cross.

I know about them, but only because I read a LOT of Jean Plaidy growing up! Your smug git acquaintance is obviously big on facts rather than wisdom, empathy, or anything else that makes a person interesting.

That was in Nottingham if it makes any difference to anything?

Coincidentally, I was just boring telling my son about the Eleanor Crosses as we went through Waltham Cross at the weekend. He was suitably unimpressed with my geek facts.

I know about them from school and also because I'm from Northants, and very near Geddington, specifically.

I wouldn't be too worried about not knowing though.

Yes I know. I now use Charing Cross station daily, but I did know about them, even when I lived in Birmingham.

Just looked it up and the one at St Albans no longer exists and is just marked by a brown plaque, which I must have walked by hundreds if times without even noticing.
It is stupid to suggest that someone should have known about Eleanor Crosses. It's like suggesting that because you are English you should know about Morris Dancing. You tend to know things because you have an interest in them, or because you live near it, as the above posts suggest. Shame you can't find something he doesn't know about and say 'But surely everyone knows the life cycle of an earwig' or something similar.

No, never heard about them till now. From the thread title I assumed they were some sort of jewellery, like Pandora bracelets.

I do, but I am also a history geek. To be honest he was being a bit of an arse because it really is something quite obscure and there are only 3 left in the whole of the UK. Yes if you walk past Charing Cross every day you might wonder. But if you are from (for example) Newcastle and aren't a history geek I don't see why it would be on your radar.

It's not like you didn't know which side we were on in WW2 is it?

Smug git IMHO, and I suspect that the people around you would have been more impressed by his smuggeryness than your supposed stupidity.

No I had never heard of them and really don't remember ever learning about them at school. You learn something new every day on mumsnet.

Yes, but partly because I grew up in one of towns that originally had one but also as Im interested in history and got dragged to many sites such as this

Yes, I know about them, but I'm interested in history and it's a good story.

Where they rested the body on its procession... Strange story really. I have no idea how/why I knew this!