Mitcham Advertiser – Thursday 26 July 1928

EAGLE HOUSE

Beheaded Birds Recover Their Heads.

Century Old Mitcham Mystery.

After being headless for longer than the oldest inhabitant can remember the twin stone eagles on the tops of the pillars of the famous wrought iron gateway to Eagle House, London-road, Mitcham have been furnished with new heads by a local tradesman.

As pieces of sculpture the eagles are not important, and the eagles at the Zoo might have some difficulty in recognising the birds; but for years they have been objects of great curiosity, especially to travellers on the tops of passing omnibuses who are in a position to notice such things. Nobody official, or unofficial, appears to know how the eagles lost their heads, or when. That they did have heads at some time, separate heads, is certain because plug holes in the base of the neck testify as much. The birds are poised with half-spread wings on lambs that might be rabbits!

Eagle House is the handsomest house in Mitcham architecturally, and one of the best built houses. The date on the moulded lead rain-water heads is 1705, There is a tradition. that Sir Christopher Wren designed it, but it is more likely that it was built to designs made fashionable by him, as most “Chippendale” chairs were made long after Chippendale was dead. The restoration of the house and gateway is being carried out at the instance of the Holborn Board of Guardians by Messrs. C. Sayers and Son, of Mitcham. “There are tons of lead on the roof, cupola, chimneys and other parts,” Mr. Sayers, senior, told the “ Advertiser,” “ and the basement walls are 30 inches thick.”

In a book published in 1789 Eagle House is thus described: “A large house built in red brick, pretty lofty, and has a cupola at the top. . . .”. On the piers of the entrance gates are the figures of two eagles in stone. (No mention of loss of heads). This seat is in the occupation of John Bond, Esq.”

Mr. Bond, whose name is perpetuated in Bond’s-rond, was a London banker, and the grounds of Eagle House extended from where Holborn Schools now stand to Holborn Workhouse (now factories) in Western-road. The late Mr. John R. Chart used to say that Dr. Pusey, the famous Tractarian, was educated at Eagle House when it was a school. A Dr. Roberts conducted a superior school there, in the early part of the Nineteenth Century and had a large number of pupils. The gateway has been painted by famous artists a number of times. The house is now a hostel for girls and is leased to the Surrey County Council.