Eagle Tavern - with photos of its closing night

This public house is situated at 67, Howell Road, behind Exeter Prison. Howell Road was originally known as Red Lane because of the, rich, red Devon soil. It became Barrack Road at the end of the 18th Century, when the Higher Barracks were built in 1792 at the time of a feared French invasion under Napoleon.

A pub was first listed on this site in 1815, named The Marquis of Wellington. However, Wellington was first made a Duke in May 1814, which suggests that it opened and was named before that date. It could have opened as early as 1808, when Arthur Wellesley was promoted to Lieutenant-General and more importantly, came to the public's notice with two victories against the French in the Peninsula War.

Pigot's 1832/3 edition had caught up with Wellington's title promotion and the pub was named the Duke of Wellington, with Richard Tapper as the innkeeper. It changed its name again by 1833 when it became known as the Spread Eagle, as shown in this advert from Trewman's Exeter Flying Post.

The Spread Eagle

The innkeeper, probably just before the above advert in 1833, was B. Richards. Sid Rowsell, a former landlord of the Eagle believes that the name, Spread Eagle, derives from the Spread Eagle Standard carried by Napoleon's troops at Waterloo. Sergeant Ewart of the Scots Guards is credited with capturing a Standard, which is held to this day by the Royal Scots Dragoons.

It became known as the Eagle Tavern in 1844 with William Crabb as landlord. In the 1850 White's Devonshire Directory, John Martin is listed as landlord of the Eagle Tavern, Barrack Road. It would appear from census records that John Martin went on to run the Kings Arms in St Sidwells.

After an epidemic of Asiatic Cholera in 1866, the City Corporation discussed using the premises as an isolation hospital for new cholera cases, but the plans were never put into action.

Between 1860 and 1880 the Eagle Tavern, along with many other public houses at the time, issued tokens to its customers to increase sales, made by Charles Dipple of Birmingham.

Samuel Reed was in charge of the Eagle Tavern in 1871. In 1878, the landlord is listed as Richard Lethaby, who was also responsible for looking after the Recreation Ground in Barrack Road. The Heavitree Brewery took the inn over in 1892. In 1897, Kelly's Directory listed Edward Ernest Hill as the publican while in 1923, the landlady was a Mrs Emily Hill, possibly the previous incumbents wife. 

It was in 1928 that Sonny (Charlie) and Rose Stone ran the public house eventually moving on in 1945. Then Richard Green and his wife Minnie, daughter of Sonny and Rose took over - in later years they were increasingly helped by Sid Rowsell and his wife Joan, Minnie's daughter, taking over in 1973. Joan Rowsell's father was her mother's first husband, George Shelton who ran the Bull with Minnie, in Goldsmith Street. George was a retired Exeter City footballer who died at the early age of 32. The Rowsells stepped down and Harry Peprell took over in 1975.

There was a flurry of indignation from the publican and regulars in September 1981, when the Co-op announced plans to use the garage next door as a mortuary. The landlord used the Express & Echo to great effect, to stop the plan. Later, in the 1980's, the  former Exeter City star striker Tony Kellow was landlord. He was the highest scoring Exeter City footballer ever, with 129 goals. The Eagle Tavern has lost trade in the last few years and has closed for brief periods. It closed on 6 June 2006.

Source: Express and Echo, and Additional material courtesy Steve Coombes. Kelly's, Besleys, Whites and other county directories. © 2005 David Cornforth - not to be used without permission