Place:Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

Waltham Cross is a town in Hertfordshire. It historically lay in the parish of Cheshunt.

NOTE: Since 1965 Waltham Forest is the name of the one of the boroughs of Greater London, situated several miles further south toward the centre of London. Care should be taken not to confuse the two.

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located approximately 12 miles (20 km) north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey in Essex to the east, and Enfield in Greater London to the south, forming part of the metropolitan area of London and the Greater London Urban Area.

The town has a modest commercial centre, with a pedestrianised High Street and an indoor shopping centre. The Waltham Cross post town stretches to the neighbouring town of Cheshunt and a small part of Enfield.

The town is named after the Eleanor cross which stands in its centre, one of twelve constructed on the orders of King Edward I following the death of his wife Eleanor of Castile in 1290. Only three of the original crosses remain intact, including the Waltham cross and two more in the Northamptonshire villages of Geddington and Hardingstone.

Research Tips

• Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, Register Office Block CHR002, County Hall, Hertford SG13 8EJ. Indexes and Catalog
• GENUKI on Hertfordshire (pre-1900 individual parishes covered separately)
• Hertfordshire Family History Society
• The hundred of Hertford: Introduction and map as provided by British History Online in the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire, volume 3, pp 407-408
• The parish of Cheshunt ibid, volume 3, pp 441-458
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Hertfordshire 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time