Geddington unique village

Geddington’s history reaches back to pre-history. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book and its status in medieval times is very visible in the church, the bridge and, of course, the remarkable Eleanor Cross. Across the village the fields, public rights of way and buildings, both ancient and modern, are testament to a village that has grown, developed and adapted over the centuries. 

In 1290 Eleanor of Castile, the beloved wife of Edward I and mother of his 14 children, died at Harby in Nottinghamshire. The places where her body rested during the journey south to its tomb in Westminster Abbey were marked by stone crosses.

St Mary Magdalene

Queen Eleanor of Castile

“Eleanor of Castile, the remarkable woman behind England’s greatest medieval king, Edward I, had one of the most fascinating lives of any of England’s queens. Her childhood was spent in the centre of the Spanish reconquest and was dominated by her military hero of a father (St Ferdinand) and her prodigiously clever brother (King Alfonso X the Learned). Married at the age of twelve and a mother at thirteen, she gave birth to at least sixteen children, most of whom died young. She was a prisoner for a year amid a civil war in which her husband’s life was in acute danger. Devoted to Edward, she accompanied him everywhere, including on Crusade to the Holy Land. All in all, she was to live for extended periods in five different countries. Eleanor was a highly dynamic, forceful personality who acted as part of Edward’s innermost circle of advisers, and successfully accumulated a vast property empire for the English Crown. In cultural terms her influence in architecture and design and even gardening can be discerned to this day, while her idealised image still speaks to us from Edward’s beautiful memorials to her, the Eleanor crosses. One such cross sits across the road from Geddington Church. Of course, the best known event is the procession of Queen Eleanor in 1290. The hundreds of nobles and servants that accompanied her body and attended the Requiem Masses held for her in St Mary Magdalene would still recognise much of the present day church. The Eleanor Cross in the centre of the Village is a memorial to that event. It is possible that it sits on the site of an ancient Holy Well.