The most southerly of the Borough’s towns is Waltham Cross, a busy commercial centre with a pedestrianised high street filled with shops, supermarkets and banks.
At its heart is Eleanor Cross, one of 12 erected between 1291 and 1294 to mark the overnight stops of the funeral cortege of Eleanor of Castille, wife of King Edward I on its way to Westminster Abbey.
The Cross is important in that it marks one of the earliest departures from the classical English Gothic style towards the more elaborated Decorated style.
A Society Wedding in Waltham Cross
This account of a wedding on June 18th 1896 is a good example of the way local newspapers would “go to town” on such events in those more leisurely days. The details of the clothes, the flowers, and even the music and the carriages, is exhaustive.
The bridegroom became principal of the firm of accountants, Tingle Comber. The bride’s father was a draper of substance in what are now Fishpool’s premises at Waltham Cross.
Anthony Trollope at Waltham Cross
That remarkably industrious Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope, lived at Waltham Cross for twelve years between 1859 and 1871, arriving soon after his return from Ireland where he had spent sixteen years working for the Post Office. His choice of Waltham Cross was influenced by his new appointment as Surveyor to the Eastern District, which covered Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and most of Hertfordshire.
Death From Tetanus
Today one expects to receive an anti-tetanus injection after any minor accident, and the general practitioner offers courses of inoculation for those whose work entails risk of cuts or skin abrasions. In the early 1960s the writer’s doctor considered that every car driver should have such protection.
Queen Eleanor Memorial
Perhaps the most striking relic of medieval times in our district is the Queen Eleanor memorial at Waltham Cross. It is one of twelve which were built by Edward I to mark the resting places of the funeral cortege of his consort on its way from Harby, in Lincolnshire, to London. Eleanor died at Harby in 1290 and her body was brought to Westminster for burial on a journey that took thirteen days.
Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity Church, built as a chapel of ease to the parish church of Cheshunt in 1832 became the parish church of the new parish of Waltham Cross in 1855. The exterior is brick in the perpendicular style.
Tramways and Buses
In 1904, the metropolitian tramway network reached Waltham Cross. One year earlier a Hertfordshire County Council Tramways Act was passed, with proposals to provide a service as far as Wormley. It was never put into effect – not, as some people supposed, because the Four Swans sign was in the way, but no doubt because it was considered uneconomic.
Waltham New Town
The Holdbrook development was an ambitious redevelopment of the area formely known as Waltham New Town. The nucleaus of the New Town dated from about 1860 and is believed to have been a direct result of the invention of guncotton at the Waltham Abbey powder mills and the consequent demand for increased labour.
