ECCLES - LAND OF CAKES engineering works and foundry and 3 years later he invented the Steam Hammer, which enabled the mass manufacture of Eccles cakes for the growing workforce! The fame of its cakes was already well established by 1863 when George Bradshaw, a Pendleton born map engraver, described Eccles in his famous Bradshaw Railway Handbook as a “little village prettily situated on the northern banks of the Irwell and environed by some of the most picturesque rambles. Celebrated for its cakes”. Clearly, Eccles was changed irreversibly by the arrival of train and its residents remained proud of their connection to the confection. In November 1882 it was reported in the Journal that Eccles Rugby Club ‘principal fixture comes off next Saturday, as they meet Salford who journey to Cakeland’ and in May 1888, playing at Eccles was referred to as ‘the Land o' Cakes’. In 1900-1902 Eccles RFC were captained by T.J. Bradburn, a club founding member, who went on to become the Hon. Secretary of the Lancashire Union in the 1920s and Lancashire county representative at the RFU. Whether Tommy Bradburn was related to the infamous Eccles Cake baking Bradburns is unknown but what we do know is the Bradburn shop remained in family ownership for over a century until 1963 when it was sold and taken over by Warburtons Bakery. The ‘Never Removed’ shop was eventually demolished in 1966 to make way for the Eccles Precinct with the shop window stored at Salford Museum. The only Eccles cakes baked in Eccles today are hand made by the Albert Street Artisan Bakery, run by the Hamer family (Eccles Rugby legend Gary Hamer take a bow), just a stone's throw away from the site of the original James Birch Eccles Cake shop. Their small batch ‘Made in Eccles Cakes’ are made using all-butter flaky pastry, homemade candied orange peel, locally grown apples, free range eggs and delicious Vostizza currants. The humble Eccles cake is now a British institution, so it is no surprise that it goes down very well with a cup of tea or, as is the post match tradition at Eccles RFC, woofed down with a pint of beer!
23 Publizr Home