Yesterday I visited the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford. It has long been a favourite of mine and I try and go there when in Oxford. It is a place full of interesting literary and historical connections.
The pub was built in around 1650.  It MIGHT have been built a little earlier as there are stories that during the English Civil War it was used by the  Chancellor of the Exchequer as a payhouse for the Royalist troops as Oxford was the King’s capital for most of the war. Until as recently as 2003 it was owned by University College and only sold after then to raise funds.
The name of the pub is a odd one. The Eagle and Child name (called locally Bird and Baby) has a connection with a noble family the Stanleys whose crest has a eagle and baby on:
Many legends exist about the origin of the eagle and child crest of the Stanleys. One account tells of a Sir Thomas Lathom who wanted and heir but whose wife was elderly. One day, he and his wife were walking some woods when they heard an infant crying. To their surprise they find a baby boy lying in the grass below an eagle’s eyre. They took it home and raised it as their son.
Literary Connections
The pub has a room – called the Rabbit Room, which was the meeting place of the Inklings. This group of writers included C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Hugo Dyson. From late 1933 until the 1950s the group met every week, read to each other their books and had discussions. It was in this very room where C.S. Lewis  first read excerpts from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. and Tolkien parts of The Lord of the Rings.
Various members of the group signed a letter to the landlord one day and that letter can still be seen framed on the wall. In recent years the pub was visited by Colin Dexter, who created Inspector Morse.
It is well worth a visit if you are in Oxford – and does superb food and real ales.
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