Charing Cross

Dickens, 1879

CharingCross is a position rather than a place, and may be described as the triangular piece of roadway where Parliament-street runs into the south side of TrafalgarSquare^?. It is the centre of London, the point from which distances are measured. A line drawn north and south through it may be said to separate the London of pleasure and fashion from that of work and business. Of the original cross no vestige remains, not even a stone to mark where it stood. It stands reproduced in front of the Charing-cross Hotel, and one cannot but regret that so beautiful an object should be placed there instead of in the centre of the wide roadway looking down Parliament-street.—(See also TrafalgarSquare^?.)

CharingCross Bridge stands on the site of the old Hungerford Suspension-bridge, which was removed in 1863 to Clifton. The lower parts of the two brick piers, on which were built the supporting towers of the old bridge, still remain, and have been utilised for the new work. They are supplemented by two intermediate set of iron piers; a large number of which also support the fan-shaped extension of the bridge towards the station. Along either side of the bridge runs a footpath; that on the eastern side being open to passengers, and affording the shortest route from all the Charing-cross district to the Waterloo Station. These footpaths, however, are not an integral portion of the structure, but are carried on small supplementary girders bolted on to the bridge proper.

Charing Cross Station. — The West-end terminus of the South-Eastern Railway, the upper portion occupied by a large hotel (see LondonHotels^?) belonging to the company. The ground floor is given up to the booking-offices; that for Continent and main line being on the west, and that for North Kent, &c., on the east side. The custom-house, where registered luggage from the Continent is examined, is at the farther end of the arrival platform. The Cannon street trains run from the platform on the east side of the station where also there is a staircase leading down to the foot of Villiers-street, TheEmbankment, and the Charing-cross Station of the District Line. It is worth bearing in mind that trains for Dover and elsewhere, starting from Charing-cross, reverse themselves on leaving Cannon-street, so that those who leave the former station with their backs to the engine will have to travel the rest of the way with their faces to it, and vice versa. NEAREST Railway Station, Charing-cross (Dist,); Omnibus Routes, Strand and Whitehall; Cab Rank, In Station.

• Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879, from The Victorian Dictionary.

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 19 Jan 2005