Чаринг-Кросс: Центр Лондона и отправная точка измерений расстояний

The point from which distances from London are measured
a location in London

Charing Cross (pronounced '/tʃ//æ//r//ɪ//ŋ/ CHAring) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. Clockwise from north, the routes that meet at Charing Cross are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; Northumberland Avenue leading to the Thames Embankment; Whitehall leading to Parliament Square; The Mall leading to Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace; and two short roads leading to Pall Mall. Historically, the name was derived from the hamlet of Charing ('Riverbend') that occupied the area of this important road junction in the middle ages, together with the grand Eleanor Cross that once marked the site. The medieval monumental cross, the Charing Cross (1294–1647), was the largest and most ornate instance of a chain of medieval Eleanor crosses running from Lincoln to this location. It was a landmark for many centuries of the hamlet of Charing, Westminster, which later gave way to government property; a little of The Strand; and Trafalgar Square. The cross in its various historical forms has also lent its name to its locality, including Charing Cross Station. On the forecourt of this terminus station stands the ornate Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross, a taller emulation of the original, and built to mark the station's opening in 1864. A bronze equestrian statue of Charles I, erected in 1675, stands on a high plinth, situated roughly where the medieval monumental cross (the 'Charing Cross') had previously stood for 353 years (since its construction in 1294) until destroyed in 1647 by the revolutionary government of Oliver Cromwell. The famously beheaded King, appearing ascendant, is the work of French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur. Charing Cross is marked on contemporary maps as the road junction around the statue's traffic island, though it is also a thoroughfare in postal addresses: Drummonds Bank, on the corner with The Mall, retains the address 49 Charing Cross and 1 4 Charing Cross continues to exist. The name previously applied to the whole stretch of road between Great Scotland Yard and Trafalgar Square, but since 1 January 1931 most of this section of road has been designated part of the 'Whitehall' thoroughfare.

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 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 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, and the chapel was adapted as a private house; its almshouse were sequestered to the Royal Palace. In 1608–09, the 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. 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.

The railway station opened in 1864, fronted on the Strand with the Charing Cross Hotel. In 1865, a replacement cross was commissioned from E. M. Barry by the South Eastern Railway as the centrepiece of the station forecourt. It is not a replica, being of an ornate Victorian Gothic design based on George Gilbert Scott's Oxford Martyrs' Memorial (1838). The Cross rises 70 feet (21 m) in three main stages on an octagonal plan, surmounted by a spire and cross. The shields in the panels of the first stage are copied from the Eleanor Crosses and bear the arms of England, Castile, Leon and Ponthieu; above the 2nd parapet are eight statues of Queen Eleanor. The Cross was designated a Grade II* monument on 5 February 1970. The month before, the bronze equestrian statue of Charles, on a pedestal of carved Portland stone, was given Grade I listed protection.

By the late 18th century, the Charing Cross district was increasingly coming to be perceived as the "centre" of the metropolis (supplanting the traditional heartland of the City to the east). From the early 19th century, legislation applicable only to the London metropolis used Charing Cross as a central point to define its geographical scope. Its later use in legislation waned in favour of providing a schedule of local government areas and became mostly obsolete with the creation of Greater London in 1965. UseScopeHackney carriage (colloquially London cab/taxi) licensing and The Knowledge The London Hackney Carriage Act 1831 and other Acts set the radius within which licensed London cabs illuminated or otherwise advertising for business had to take a fare (and convey passengers). The legacy of this is that streets within a six mile radius of Charing Cross are the basis of 'black taxi' driver training. Such cabs can turn down exceptionally long journeys. Metropolitan Police District The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 stated all parishes within 12 miles of Charing Cross could be added. This was expanded to 15 miles by the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. It has since been harmonised to Greater London, as to stations and main conurbations. Metropolitan Buildings Office The Office (superseded in 1855 and today by each local authority's Building Control departments or teams) could regulate use and building standards under the London Building Act 1844, within 12 miles of Charing Cross Street trading The Metropolitan Streets Act 1856 gave the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police power to control some acts within six miles of Charing Cross. Powers to license shoeblack pitches remain, heavily superseded by the London boroughs' street trading licensing laws. Amateur radio 431MHz 432MHz are banned for amateur radio use within 100km of Charing Cross. Road distances from London continue to be measured from Charing Cross. Prior to its selection as a commonly agreed central datum point, various points were used for this purpose. John Ogilby's Britannia of 1675, of which editions and derivations continued to be published throughout the 18th century, used the "Standard" (a former conduit head) in Cornhill; while John Cary's New Itinerary of 1798 used the General Post Office in Lombard Street. The milestones on the main turnpike roads were mostly measured from their terminus which was peripheral to the free passage urban, London roads. Ten of these are notable: Hyde Park Corner, Whitechapel Church, the southern end of London Bridge, the east end of Westminster Bridge, Shoreditch Church, Tyburn Turnpike (Marble Arch), Holborn Bars, St Giles's Pound, Hicks Hall (as to the Great North Road), and the Stones' End in The Borough. Some roads into Surrey and Sussex were measured from St Mary le Bow church in the City. Some of these structures were later moved or destroyed, but reference to them persisted as if they still remained in place. An exaggerated but well meaning criticism was that "all the Books of Roads published, differ in the Situation of Mile Stones, and instead of being a Guide to the Traveller, serve only to confound him". William Camden speculated in 1586 that Roman roads in Britain had been measured from London Stone, a claim thus widely repeated, but unsupported by archaeological or other evidence.

To the east of the Charing Cross road junction is Charing Cross railway station, situated on The Strand. On the other side of the river, connected by the pedestrian Golden Jubilee Bridges, are Waterloo East and Waterloo stations. The nearest London Underground stations are Charing Cross and Embankment.