Charing Cross is an area of London near Trafalgar Square. It takes its name from a cross that was erected at the junction near the hamlet of Charing. It was the most expensive of 12 crosses King Edward I erected in memory of his wife Eleanor of Castile, marking the nightly resting-places along the route taken by her body as it was taken to London. The Eleanor Cross was pulled down, by order of Parliament, in 1647, at the time of the English Civil War. It was the subject of a popular Royalist ballad part of which goes:

Methinks the common-council shou'd
Of it have taken pity,
'Cause, good old cross, it always stood
So firmly in the city.

When the monarchy was restored eight conspirators were executed here. A statue of Charles I was later erected on the site. This statue had been made in 1633 but Parliament decreed that it should be destroyed. It was hidden by the man tasked with its destruction and resurfaced at the Restoration and was finally erected in 1675.

This statue, now in Trafalgar Square, is regarded as the official centre of London in legislation and when measuring distances from London.

There was a famous pillory next to the statue used for public flogging. The area around the pillory was a popular place of street entertainment. Samuel Pepys records in his diaries visiting the surrounding taverns and watching the entertainments and executions that were held there.

A famous inn called the "Golden Cross" - first mentioned in 1643 - was situated nearby.
Coaches departed from here to Dover, Brighton, Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Holyhead and York throughout the 18th and 19th century. The inn features in three books by Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers talks of the low archway of the inn:

"Heads, heads - take care of your heads", cried the loquacious stranger as they came out under the low archway which in those days formed the entrance to the coachyard. "Terrible place - dangerous work - other day - five children - mother - tall lady, eating sandwiches - forgot the arch - crash - knock - children look round - mother's head off - sandwich in her hand - no mouth to put it in - head of family off"

This whole area was transformed when Trafalgar Square was built on the site in 1832. A replica of the original Charing Cross has stood in the forecourt of Charing Cross station since 1865. It stands 21m high and was designed by the architect of the station's hotel, E.M.Barry, who is best known for his work on Covent Garden. The new cross is not a faithful replica, being more ornate than the original.

The Cross has given its name to a railway station, a hotel, a hospital, a police station and two places of entertainment, the Charing Cross Theatre and the Charing Cross Music Hall which lay beneath the arches of the station.