Editing Eleanor cross (section)

===Stamford===
<small>({{Coord|52|39|22|N|00|29|37|W|region:GB}})</small><br/>
Eleanor's bier spent the night of 5 December 1290, and possibly also that of 6 December, in [[Stamford, Lincolnshire]].<ref name="pow194"/><ref name="cock345"/> The master mason for the cross here is not known: it was probably constructed in 1294 or 1295. There is conflicting evidence about its precise location, but it is now generally agreed that it stood just outside the town on the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]] (modern Casterton Road, the B1081), in what is today the Foxdale area.<ref name="smith">{{cite journal |first=John F. H. |last=Smith |title=A fragment of the Stamford Eleanor Cross |journal=Antiquaries Journal |volume=74 |year=1994 |pages=301–311 |doi=10.1017/S0003581500024471 |s2cid=162279263 }}</ref><ref name="lincstopast">{{cite web |url=https://www.lincstothepast.com/exhibitions/places/stamford-eleanor-cross/ |title=Stamford Eleanor Cross |work=Lincs To The Past |publisher=Lincolnshire Archives |access-date=14 June 2019 }}</ref>

The cross was in decay by the early 17th century, and in 1621 the town council ordered some restoration work, although it is unknown whether this was carried out.<ref>Powrie 1990, p. 83.</ref> [[Richard Symonds (diarist)|Richard Symonds]] reported in 1645: "In the hill before ye come into the towne, stands a lofty large crosse built by Edward III{{sic}}, in memory of Elianor his queene, whose corps rested there coming from the North."<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Symonds |author-link=Richard Symonds (diarist) |editor-first=Charles Edward |editor-last=Long |editor-link=Charles Edward Long |title=Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army during the Great Civil War |series=[[Camden Society]] |publisher=Camden Society |location=Westminster |year=1859 |page=[https://archive.org/details/diarymarchesroy00longgoog/page/n263 230] |url=https://archive.org/details/diarymarchesroy00longgoog }}</ref> In 1646 Richard Butcher, the Town Clerk, described it as "so defaced, that only the Ruins appeare to my eye".<ref>Galloway 1914, p. 69.</ref><ref name="smith"/><ref name="lincstopast"/> It had probably been destroyed by 1659, and certainly by the early 18th century.<ref name="smith"/><ref>Powrie 1990, pp. 82–84.</ref>

In 1745, [[William Stukeley]] attempted to excavate the remains of the cross, and succeeded in finding its hexagonal base<ref>Stukeley notes the base in different places as both hexagonal and octagonal (see Smith 1994, p. 311, n. 10); but his ground plan at Bodleian Library, MS Eng. misc. e. 126, fol. 18, confirms that what he found was hexagonal.</ref> and recovering several fragments of the superstructure. His sketch of the top portion, which seems to have stylistically resembled the Geddington Cross, is found in his diaries in the [[Bodleian Library]], Oxford.<ref name="smith"/><ref>Cockerill 2014, pp. 355, 367, plate 46.</ref><ref name="lincstopast"/> A single small fragment from among Stukeley's finds, a carved [[Purbeck marble]] rose, was rediscovered in about 1976, and identified as part of the cross in 1993.<ref name="smith"/><ref name="lincstopast"/> Following the closure of [[Stamford Museum]] in 2011, this fragment is now displayed in the Discover Stamford area at the town's library.

A modern monument was erected in Stamford in 2009 in commemoration of Eleanor: see [[#Replicas and imitations|Replicas and imitations]] below.