The Elanor in question was the wife of Edward I. Queen Elanor died near Lincoln in 1290, her body was carried to Westminster Abbey in London.
At each town that the procession stopped for the night, a rough wooden cross was erected, the locations of the 12 crosses were Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Westcheap, and Charing. The wooden crosses were later replased with stone monuments.
Only three of the crosses remain today, these are at Waltham, Geddington, and Hardingstone.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries several fake Eleanor Crosses were erected, notably at Ilam, Walkden (Lancashire), Sledmere (Yorkshire), and Queensbury.
The Queen Victoria monument in Hamilton Square is in the form of an Elanor Cross.