During the Reformation, fairs and festivals, which were mostly held on holy days, were outlawed – even Christmas and its festivities were abolished by an Act of Parliament in 1647. For nearly two decades, the preparation of food for festivities was a punishable offence. After Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, people could return to their festivities. Gingerbread experienced a revival because the spices needed to make it became cheaper and, by then, sugar imports from Barbados brought large amounts of sugar to the London sugar refineries.
Fairings were known throughout the country, but became connected to Cornwall when Cornish baker, Furniss of Truro, started selling Cornish fairings in 1886. In The Cornishman of 3 December 1908, an advertisement for ginger fairings appeared with the headline ‘A Genuine Cornish Delicacy for one & all of the Cornish Riviera’. Today, Furniss Foods still sells Cornish fairings and holds the trademark for the name.
