Editing Charing Cross (section)

===St Mary Rounceval===
[[File:Northumberland House on John Rocque's 1746 map of London edited.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|An extract from [[John Rocque's Map of London, 1746]], showing [[Northumberland House]]. The two projecting garden wings had not yet been added.]]
At some time between 1232 and 1236, the Chapel and Hospital of St Mary Rounceval was founded at Charing. It occupied land at the corner of the modern Whitehall and into the centre of [[Northumberland Avenue]], running down to a wharf by the river. It was an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] house, tied to a mother house at [[Roncesvalles]] in the [[Pyrenees]]. The house and lands were seized for the king in 1379, under a statute "for the forfeiture of the lands of schismatic aliens". Protracted legal action returned some rights to the prior, but in 1414, [[Henry V of England|Henry V]] suppressed the 'alien' houses. The priory fell into a long decline from lack of money and arguments regarding the collection of tithes with the parish church of [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]]. In 1541, religious artefacts were removed to [[St. Margaret's, Westminster|St Margaret's]], and the chapel was adapted as a private house; its almshouse were sequestered to the Royal Palace.<ref name="Rounceval">[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68266 ''The chapel and hospital of St. Mary Rounceval''], ''[[Survey of London]]'': volume 18: St Martin-in-the-Fields II: The Strand (1937), pp. 1–9. Retrieved 14 February 2009</ref>
[[File:Northumberland House by Canaletto (1752).JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|left|Frontage onto Strand/Charing Cross of Northumberland House in 1752 by [[Canaletto]]. The statue of Charles I is at the right of the painting. At the left is the Golden Cross Inn, with signboard outside.]]

In 1608–09, the [[Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton|Earl of Northampton]] built [[Northumberland House]] on the eastern portion of the property. In June 1874, the duke's property at Charing Cross was purchased by the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] for the formation of Northumberland Avenue.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68267 ''Northumberland House''], ''[[Survey of London]]'': volume 18: St Martin-in-the-Fields II: The Strand (1937), pp. 10–20. Retrieved 14 February 2009</ref>

The frontage of the Rounceval property caused the narrowing at the end of the Whitehall entry to Charing Cross, and formed the section of Whitehall formerly known as Charing Cross, until road widening in the 1930s caused the rebuilding of the south side of the street which created a wide thoroughfare.<ref name="Rounceval" />