The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-08-30
The Famous Cakes OF BanGsry.


the story and significance of the famous
cakes of Banbury Cross, or that for the
cause of their renown We must look
away back through the history of En-
gland to the time of the middle ages !?
1t seems funny, doesn't it, to think of
silly nursery rhyme having any founda-
ton in real, true history But Mother
Goose was very learned old woman,
expense of Kings and Queens, and wove
her rhymes and jingles about whom and
what she pleased. So for all those who
have passed forever from under her nur-
sery rule, here is the historical fact of
one of her ballads.
On the northern edge of the county of
Oxford, in Merrie England, lies the an
cient town of Banbury, which has been
from time immemorial celebrated for its
rich cakes. And this is not surprising,
when we learn that the country around
this old town boasts some of the richest
pasture lands in the kingdom, a single
COW producing as mahy as 200 pounds
of butter in year; and, as but
ter is the principal ingredient of the
Banbury cake, what wonder that nearly
all the men in the place were bakers
whose renown spread far and wide No
wedding festival, Maypole dance, or mer-
riment of any kind was complete with
out dish of these cakes, and they were
also served to the authorities upon state
occasions, for we find in an old record of
Banbury accounts a charge of "cakes
for the Judges at the meeting of the
court" 60 3s Cd. So you see even those
great men granted their patronage to the
Banbury pastry.
Now, when good Queen Bess came to
the throne of England, the Puritans
were very Strong in Banbury, and, by an
unlucky turn of time, the cakes which
had been in such demand all though the
middle ages were suddenly and unac-
countably looked upon by that party
with dsfavor. Whether they considered
their plentiful allowance of butter a
waste, or whether they had bad diges-
tons and grudged the cakes to those who
had better ones, is not known; but GER
tain it is that they formed 80 strong a
party about this time that they pulled
to the ground old "Banbury Cross" SO
celebrated in our nursery rhymes.
So the people of Banbury made two
parties, and waged war right valiantly
upon each other; 1 suppose it must have
been with their tongues, for I never
heard of any other weapons being used;
but anyway half the bakers turned
preachers, and preached down the cakes
and the rival cake-makers, and the town
was In such connection that none were
made fer many long day. Thus the
Banbury pastry came to have a new in
terest, since it formed the bone of con-
tention over which grave, learned men
fought with such vigor
1t is said that the Puritans looked
upon the cake as superstihous relic,
because they were more used at religious
to prohibit the sale of them only on feast
or fast days. And, indeed, cakes have
always from time to time had peculiar
religious significance attached to them.
There are those made at Congleton, in
Cheshire, triangular in shape, with a
raisin in each corner, emblematic OF the
Trinity. The New Years day God
cakes of Coventry; the Good Friday bun,
with its cross; the Jewish Passover cake.
And, again, the Puritans treated the
mince-pie with religious observance :;
and the old rule rigidly adhered to by
them was, that the crust of this pie
should always be oblong in shape, in
imitation of the manager wherein our
Savior was laid, the mince inside being
supposed to. refer to the gifts of the wise
mem
So more than fifty years passed away,
and these cakes were still regarded with
disfavor, and ceased to be sold at the
roadside inns and taverns, formerly
theirprincipad depots ; and none were
made IN that old English town, except,
/ suppose, now and then painful on the
sly by some white-haired old baker, just
to see that the cunning had not left his
hand, or perhaps for his pretty grand
children who hsd heard their fathers
talk many time of the battle of Ban
bury Cross, and wondered how the cakes
tasted whose name had passed into a
proverb.
Now, when Charles II. became King
of England, that monarch "who never
said foolish thing and never did a wise
one" the Banbury bakers began to see
bright times ahead of them, and to get
down old dusty recipe books that had
been laid away on the shelves by their
fathers with leaf turned down at Ban
burie cakes" For merrie monarch
had come to rule them who lived for the
Indulgence of his appetite, and cared
little for matters of state or party quar-
rels. And so once more the time came
when hungry, belated travellers, stop
ping at English inns on country roads,
were served with tankards of foaming
ale and hot Banbury cakes to send them
on their way rejoicing
AT the present day these cakes are
more widely SOL. than ever, and in IS41
5000 were sold weekly, large shipments
being made to America and India. On
the marriage of Victoria Adelaide, the