Eagle House, Wimbledon. T. R. Way. Signed and dated 1899. Lithograph. Source: Reliques of Old London, 69.
Commentary by H. B. Wheatley from Reliques of Old London
There have been many fine old houses in Wimbledon, but few are now left, and Eagle House, the subject of Mr. Way's drawing, is one of these. This Jacobean house remained in private occupation until the end of the eighteenth century, when it was occupied as a school, and so it continued for nearly a century. The present occupier is the well-known architect, Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., who pulled down such modern additions as had been built to meet the requirements of a boys' school, and thus allowed the old house to reappear as it was when it was a private residence. . . .
The house does not appear to have had any special name when it was built, before 1613, by Robert Bell, citizen and merchant of London, member of the Girdlers' Company, and afterwards Deputy of Lime Street Ward. Bell was boorn at Wimbledon in 1564. He appears to have had two elder brothers, and to have experienced the advantage of the custom of the manor of Wimbledon, by which, on the death of the copyholder, the youngest son was the customary heir. The first mention of the house is in a survey of 1617, where it is described as a fair new house belonging to Mr. Bell. [69]
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Bibliography
Way, T. R., and H. B. Wheatley. Reliques of Old London upon the Banks of the Thames and in the Subburbs South of the River. London: George Bell and Sons, 1909. [title page] Internet Archive version of a copy in the Boston Public Library. Web. 22 April 2012.
Last modified 22 April 2012