Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Saturday 30 March 2024

Hot Cross buns


Like, no doubt, so many people yesterday I enjoyed as my ‘small collation’ a hot cross bun at two  points in the day and I looked forward to more today when I was to finish off my stock of these traditional treats.

Country Life has reissued online an article of theirs from 2019 about the history and folk-lore of the hot cross bun. It can be seen at Curious Questions: Why do we eat hot cross buns at Easter?

To the examples of the longevity of individual hot cross buns I can add another example. In the collection of the Museum in my home town of Pontefract is a survivor from the Crimean War - a hot cross bun taken by or sent to a soldier from the town when he served in the Crimean War. Having survived the fighting of 1854-56 both soldier and hot cross bun returned to their Yorkshire home town. Eventually it made its way into the Museum collection. 
 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)