igh on the walls of St Mary’s and on some of the pillars can be seen carved stone heads. One of these, above the pulpit, is of a man with the features characteristic of races of the East. Why should such a man be carved in the stonework of a 13th Century in a church in Kent? Two other stone heads, to be seen on the North wall, are clearly of a European King and a Queen. What is the connection of these people with St Mary’s church?
Eleanor of Castile (1244-1290) was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. Eleanor was born in Castile, Spain, the daughter of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and Leon. The carved stone heads of the King and Queen at St Mary’s represent Eleanor and Edward who would have been on the throne of England at the time the 13th Century St Mary’s was built.
The picture shows the statues of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor in Lincoln Cathedral.

Eleanor’s given name was Leonor (she was called Eleanor in England). She married Edward I, the son of Henry III of England, in October 1254 at Burgos and became queen in 1272 when his father died and he became king. Despite the original political intentions of their marriage, it is understood they were very much in love. Eleanor gave birth to sixteen children all told, six of whom survived into adulthood, but only two or three of whom outlived their parents.
Eleanor accompanied her husband on diplomatic missions and military excursions. She went with him on Crusade from 1270 to 1273. When criticized for such an unwomanly adventure, she said: "Nothing must part them whom God has joined, and the way to heaven is as near if not nearer from Syria as from England or my native Spain." During the crusade to the Holy Land legend says Eleanor saved Edward’s life by sucking poison from a dagger wound, inflicted by an Moorish assassin. This is believed to be the man represented by the carved stone head above the pulpit at St Mary’s.

When Edward and Eleanor returned from the crusade and the King, Henry III died, they were both crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 19th of August 1274. Eleanor was never content to play the part of a passive queen. For thirty-six years she was an active queen-consort to her equally strong-minded husband.
Eleanor died of a fever on November 28, 1290, at Nottingham (believed actually Harby, Nottinghamshire rather than the city), and her body was returned to London for burial at Westminster Abbey. (The image here is of Eleanor and can be seen in Wesminster Abbey.) When she died, Edward was disconsolate. He wrote of a wife "whom living we dearly cherished, and whom dead we cannot cease to love." As a memorial he erected twelve monumental crosses, each marking a stopping-place of the procession that bore her body from Nottingham to London. The last of these "Eleanor crosses" was at Charing Cross in London. Three of these "Eleanor crosses" are still landmarks today, although the most famous at Charing Cross (from which its name derives) is a copy.
The Cross which now stands at Charing Cross, in front of the railway station, is a re-located Victorian "copy" of the original, the latter having stood where a statue of King Charles I of England is now to be found. The original cross was not nearly as large or ornate as the Victorian version.

The original cross was of wood, and later a monumental one of Caen stone, carved with figures and raised on steps of marble, was put up. That cross stood where the equestrian Charles I now stands on its little traffic island in Trafalgar Square. It was demolished in 1647, and the stone used to make the paving along Whitehall. However, in 1863 the current cross was erected, based as closely as possible on what was known about the medieval one. It is very ornate, with eight crowned statues of Queen Eleanor above, eight kneeling angels at their feet, and shields lower down copied from extant crosses at Waltham and Northampton. Other carving on the cross is based on 13th Century remains. This cross (designed by architect Edward Middleton Barry) was sculpted by Thomas Earp, who also sculpted the ornate stonework on the pulpit at St Mary the Virgin church, Stone.

The Charing Cross that stands at the front of London's Charing Cross station