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?

Drat!! thought yay,a nice pram and buggy thread!

Yes, because we live in a town with one and that's DDs name (Eleanor, not cross).

Yes there is one in Stony Stratford just outside Milton Keynes where I used to live. The 12 Eleanor Crosses mark the funeral route for Eleanor of Castille, the final cross being at Charing Cross.

I knew. The best preserved example of one (other than Charing Cross) is in a town very close to me. I can't see how I would have found out otherwise though.

Is there raisah? Wikipedia said the one in Stony Stratford was totally destroyed during the Civil War by the Parliamentarians. The base survived for some time, but any trace has now vanished.

Yes but only because I lived down the road from one as a child! Probably the same town as morefalafel!

No. But then I've never lived anywhere near them, and haven't lived in the UK for 12 years and have missed a lot of cultural references.

Yes there's one on display in Lincoln Castle.

Didn't know before I came here though

Oooh, thanks Chaz! >goes off to read

There is a Queen Eleanor Cycle Ride (next one this August) along the route. DP - he's a medieval historian - went and did it just before DS1 was born.

I have just driven past one. Beautiful it is too!
But not everyone knows what they are...

Given our nearest one is 440 miles away, I think it's pretty acceptable that I didn't know what these were.

I do know what the Rhynie Man is. And what a vitrified fort is (The current theory anyway).

Yes, but only since I moved south a couple of years ago. By a spooky koinkidink I was in Geddington last weekend.

Rather nice in Geddington, isn't it Select?

Perhaps they should call the royal baby Eleanor...

yes I have known since primary school :)

I suppose it is debatable how much original material of any old monuments remain and how much has been restored at a later date, it might be a case of being like Trigger's broom!

I know, but only because I'm a fan of that period. Have just asked around my house & the neighbours - nobody here has any idea what they are. (Fife)

I did because I'm foreign-born and a history geek and because the first place I lived when I came to England was Waltham Cross.

People usually know what's been restored and what hasn't on something like that. You can tell by things like the kind of chisel marks on the stone.

Yes, I am a medieval history graduate though, so I would expect to know something like that!

Yes! But I only found out a couple of weeks ago as finally decided to research the history of where I've lived for the past ten years!

Her viscera was buried here proud

Knowledge snobs are arses though. When I was a student I met a PhD guy for coffee & after he sent me an email saying he wouldn't meet me again cos I was a typical dumb undergrad because I'd never heard of the Knights Templar. Twat. Like he is the arbiter of worthy knowledge!

Yes, but only because my ED told me when she was in primary school. We are local to several crosses and all the children learn about it here. I, not being born locally, learnt about the textile industry of victorian yorkshire instead at primary school!

When I was a student I met a PhD guy for coffee & after he sent me an email saying he wouldn't meet me again cos I was a typical dumb undergrad because I'd never heard of the Knights Templar. Twat.
you should have pointed out to him that an interest in the Knights Templar is said to be an early sign of insanity!