HMDUK 16 What is the origin of hot-cross buns?

Cjorsch, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF HOT-CROSS BUNS? The custom of making bread marked with the sign of a cross for consumption at festivals is both ancient and widespread. There is no ground for supposing that the custom originated with the early Christians; they merely altered its significance by associating it with the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.