Past records of Cakebreads occur in several counties of the English Midlands.

There are baptism and burial records of Cakebreads from 1551 in the latter half of the 16th Century at Witney, west of Oxford, but from the early 1600s rcords cease or have not survived.

Bloxham and Banbury area

It is likely that one of the Witney families moved north to the village of Bloxham, near Banbury in the middle of the 17th Century, and from 1650 baptisms were registered there, and nearby districts in northern Oxfordshire. Bloxham has contained a group of families whose descendants have spread to the areas mentioned below.

It seems that probably the 1st name in Bloxham was James Cakebread who was married to Ales. One guess is that James came from a few miles south in the village of Witney, near Oxford but it is also possible that he had come from further south in Hertfordshire where available records of CAKEBREADs go back many more years than in Oxfordshire areas.

James was the only Cakebread in Oxfordshire to appear on the Oxfordshire Protestion Returns in 1641/2. There was a legal requirement to sign this oath and, although not conclusive, the lack of any other Cakebread name is a good indication there were no other adult males of this name in the county.

It appears that the CAKEBREADs became leading members of the non-conformist movement and attended religious services in private houses. Although they did baptise at a young age, usually at birth, the records did not survive. By using marriage and burial records the approximate progression of the group of families can be seen but they cannnot be accurately defined.

There was probably one, or maybe two, further generations in a single line but then (after 1737) either 2 or possibly 3 CAKEBREAD families were present: John and Mary; James and Sarah; Thomas and Elizabeth. The connections between them is not known but it is a fair assumption the men were brothers. After about 1770 there were at least another 5 in (or nearby) Bloxham as the family tree expanded. From 1790 to 1810 the number expanded to at least 8.

For the benefit of other researchers who wish to take up this study of the Banbury families I have set out my thoughts of the likely Cakebread families in the Banbury area between 1600 and 1850 using mostly online marriage and burial records. The dates are very approximate and the pages may well overlap. It must be stressed that without baptism records (there were no censuses then) these charts are merely an attempt to sort out a confusing period and maybe, hopefully, provide a base for future research. If anyone can provide the evidence for connecting these families I will be delighted to hear from you !

By then marriages of Cakebreads had taken place in several nearby villages also such as Swalcliffe, Tadmarton, Epwell, Barford, Steeple Aston, and just over the county borders at Brackley and Culworth in Northamptonshire, and Harbury in Warwickshire.

Several of those couples settled in the villages where they were marrried and began several more generations or residents there. Some also moved into the nearby market town of Banbury.

Some descendants of Thomas Cakebread who married Catherine Hill at Culworth, Northampton stayed in the northern parts of Northamptonshire until at least 1910. They included Stone Masons and allied trades.

More notes about the Northamptonshire Cakebread families can be read here. The Northamptonshire villages invloved are very close to Banbury and people moved from one area to the other.