[Lalwendë]

I've been doing the amateur historian bit and found some more interesting clues to the history of the pub.

During the English Civil War (1642 - 1651) Oxford became the Royalist capital of England. Charles I set up home at Christ Church, his wife Henrietta Maria kept court at the neighbouring Merton College and the Eagle and Child Tavern in St Giles served as the Exchequer.

The building has been a pub since 1650, which suggests that rather than the Exchequer being set up in the pub, the Exchequer eventually became a pub.

As to why it is named The Eagle & Child, I have found the following from a history of the Earls of Derby and the Stanley family, whose emblem this is:

William Stanley (1561-1642). William married Elizabeth de Vere daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604). Their son James Stanley (1607-1651) succeeded to the earldom on his father's death. James was a staunch Royalist. In 1643 he moved to the Isle of Man and established it as a Royalist stronghold. He was beheaded by the Parliament forces. His wife was Charlotte de la Trémouille (?-1663) daughter of Claude de la Trémoille, Duc de Thouars, is known as the heroine who defended Lathom House in 1644 and the Isle of Man in 1651.

So, the building may have come into the family upon marriage in the late 1500s, and then been used as the Exchequer during the Civil War. There may have been a family crest on the building depicting an Eagle and Child, hence the name when it became a pub! Why waste a relatively new crest (as it would have been, judging by the dates above) when it could make a serviceable pub sign?

Please note that the entire sum of my great experience in British pubs amounts only to two weeks (by no means continuous), so I suspect that others of you across the pond could speak with greater experience.

Bethberry - my answer to that one is "oh yes!". It sounds like my kind of place in your description; funnily enough I do not drink (well, not to get drunk anyway) but this does sound the ideal place to sit with a beer or two for a few hours. I am just waiting to hear what it will be like after the recent 'renovation'.

I always think of Frodo and Sam being plucked from the slopes of Mount Doom when I think of Eagle & Child.