ECCLES - LAND OF CAKES The origin of the world famous Eccles Cake appears to be lost in time. Spiced cakes were often associated with church festivals and there was a certainly a popular bygone fair held annually in Eccles each August to celebrate the feast day of St. Mary. The ancient parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, has stood on the same site for at least 800 years and is the oldest church in the City of Salford. Eccles itself was founded by Christian refugees from Mamucium (Manchester) escaping Roman persecution in the 4th century. The name of the settlement probably derived from the Latin Ecclesia (gathering, assembly) or the Welsh Eglwys (church). When the invading Anglo Saxons arrived in Lancashire many existing British names for landmarks, such as Eccles and Irwell, survived and so it came to pass, that Eccles grew around its church and the area was sufficiently remote to remain agricultural and untroubled by local conflicts for a millennium. In 1650 the Puritan reformers abolished religious festivities including public dancing on the village green and the eating of cakes. True to its non-compliant origins Eccles appears to have defied the baking ban because the cakes continued to be sold when the annual fairs and wakes were reinstated. The Jacobite army passed through the rural village of Eccles in 1745 in its advance and subsequent retreat (no doubt returning for a second helping of cakes) but otherwise all was quiet until 1761, when the Duke of Bridgewater opened his canal to float coal from his mines at Worsley over the Barton Aqueduct to Manchester, igniting the Industrial Revolution and ultimately bringing goods, steam power and textile production to Eccles which would soon become a town of cotton weavers with many workers being children. In 1772, Elizabeth and John Raffald, former housekeeper and head gardener to the Warburton family at Arley Hall Cheshire, arrived in Salford to run business ventures including The Bulls Head Tavern and the King’s Head coaching Inns. Elizabeth was an entrepreneur and set up a business on the Kersal Moor Racecourse, near the ladies' stand, selling strawberries with cream, tea and coffee. There is a plaque dedicated to Elizabeth on Exchange Street, Manchester near the site of her premises in Market Place, from where
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