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Eccles and District History Society |
ECCLES CAKES
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Records show that James Birch began making Eccles Cakes in a shop opposite Eccles Parish Church in 1796.
In 1810 he moved to larger premises across the road. The photograph on the left shows this shop with its sign " Eccles Cake Makers Removed from across the way".
These premises still exist today on Church Street but are now home to a dry cleaners' shop.
When James Birch moved to bigger premises across the road a former employee, James Bradburn, took over the original shop.
In 1835 Bradburn had the shop rebuilt - the premises shown on the photograph below.
There was great rivalry between the two shops.
Bradburn's sign was in direct challenge to his former employer's sign: this was the "original and oldest established Eccles Cake Shop, Never Removed".
This shop was demolished in the late 1960s to make way for the Eccles Shopping Precinct.
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There is an excellent account of the history of Eccles cakes by Evelyn Vigeon, "The celebrated cookie shop", in The Manchester Genealogist, 1993, Vol.29, No.1, pp.33-50. Copies are available at Salford Local History Library.
VIVE L' ECCLES CAKE! A cake for Europe...
Eccles cakes represented the UK in a special banquet to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the European Union in 2007.
The recipes are available at: www.eu50.eu
WORLD'S BIGGEST ECCLES CAKE
It's official - see here.
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