The Eagle and Child

The Eagle and Child on St Giles Street is distinguished by its modest, narrow facade and a sign depicting an eagle hovering over a swaddled infant. Long known to locals as the Bird and Baby, the building has operated as a public house since at least sixteen fifty. Its name likely draws from the crest of the Earl of Derby, though it has stood as a fixture of Oxford life for centuries, once serving as a lodging for the Chancellor of the Exchequer during the English Civil War.