The Cock Pit

The Cockpit stands at 47-49 High Street, on the edge of the old medieval market square, with a front dating from about 1440. It was almost certainly built by the Dean and Canons of Windsor as a speculative development, and was owned by the College of St George from the late Middle Ages until about 1800. By the mid 16th century, there was a terrace adjoined by two cottages and for a time, part of it was an inn called the Adam and Eve. It underwent various changes, and sometime between 1929 and 1942, the medieval front was restored. It once served as an abattoir. In the 1930s it became a tea room, and took the name ‘The Cock Pitt’ from an antique shop, that had previously occupied the site. The Cockpit was popular for teas, providing generous sustenance for Eton boys and their parents, especially on Sundays. Cecil Beaton once brought Greta Garbo here, when taking his nephew out from school. It was suggested that this was the site of a medieval cock pit, though this does not correspond with other venues known for cock fighting. Today it is a listed building.

Nearby is a rare pillar-box dating from 1856, only 15 years after the first postage stamps and still operational today. It was made by Smith and Hawkes Eagle Foundry at Birmingham and is one of only ten surviving. It is Grade II listed with an unusual vertical slot for posting letters and illustrates where the name ‘pillar’ came from with its fluted Doric decoration. Earlier post boxes had
been painted green, to blend in, but people kept walking into them. Eton was the first village in England to have a post office. Further along the High Street is Tangier Lane. One story connecting Eton to Tangier is that this exotic city was part of Catherine of Braganza’s dowry when she married Charles II. There was once a flour mill here but the last miller left in around 1860 after the stream had been dammed. The mill was pulled down in 1891.