IN 1762, the historian Edward Gibbon’s journals recorded a new word added to the English language – “a Sandwich”.

Gibbon noted that Londoners everywhere had suddenly started to ask for this novel concoction. It had been given its name, and its fashion status, by the 4th Earl of Sandwich.

The story doing the round of town, and spread in print by Gibbon, went like this: Lord Sandwich was playing an intense round of cribbage.

And not wanting to allow dinner-time to interrupt his game, he called for some cold meat to be placed between two rounds of bread. This allowed him to eat with one hand, while continuing to play with the other.

Like all the best tales, this legendary account is disputed by spoilsport scholars, but there is no doubt, that by lending his name to a humble butty, Lord Sandwich propelled it on its way to foodie stardom.

The fashion quickly spread around the world. The name is now one of the most travelled of all English words, having been absorbed into most of the world’s languages without change.

Two hundred and fifty years after it was first named, the sandwich has lost its upper case S and aristocratic credentials, becoming a wholly democratic, people's food. In every other respect, it continues to go from strength to strength.

In 2011, the UK population alone accounted for 11 billion of them, and the sale of ready-made sandwiches rose by six per cent.

For most of its long life, nobody has taken the sandwich seriously.

It was long regarded as a convenience food to be packed for picnics, or cut into fey little triangles for garden parties.

All that changed in the 1980s, with the sudden explosive growth in pre-packed sandwiches, headed by Marks & Spencer.

The idea of a sandwich as a takeaway food was dismissed at first.

Who would buy a sandwich when they could make it for a fraction of the price at home?

M&S proved the scoffers wrong. Soon, every major food retailer was jumping on the bandwagon.

The next revolution was the rise of the gourmet, or foodie, sandwich, using a range of carefully-selected and freshly-baked bread, and an increasingly inventive range of fillings. One Essex enterprise helping to set the pace is Birdwood, based in Leigh, which is run by baking expert Roseanne Strong, a passionate exponent of good bread.

After 10 years as a cafe proprietor, Roseanne set up her own bakery because existing sources were unable to supply the sort of bread she wanted.

Birdwood has seen rapid growth, and now plans to expand across the county, as well as online. It achieved a major coup when it landed the contract to supply the new Southend Airport terminal.

Their sandwiches are based on a unique bread invented by Bird- wood, which Roseanne calls a ‘Turkish flatbread’, although its origin owes just as much to Essex.

She says: “Nobody else makes or sells it. It’s created a niche of its own. It is a very practical bread for sandwich-making. Its shape means that it can quickly be cut into segments with different fillings.

“It has a high water content, so that it doesn’t sit too heavily on the stomach. It lends itself to Eur- opean fillings like pesto and salami. And, of course, it tastes delicious. Customers just love it.”

Roseanne works with her chefs, “all of whom are passionate about what they do”, to devise new filling recipes. These are featured as the week’s specials at the cafe. Birdwood creates an air of excitement and inventiveness around the latest new sandwich recipe.

Roseanne adds: “Our customers are always up for the latest thing. They trust our recipes and like the sense of constant innovation.”

In the week when the town of Sandwich, in Kent, celebrated the birth of its namesake 250 years ago, customers tucked into sandwiches packed with Birdwood’s latest new filling, tuna and chilli. Yet in some respects, tradition still prevails.

The most popular filling in Birdwood’s Essex sandwiches is ham and cheese – a filling that was said to be favoured by the 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Both resilient and surprising, the sandwich should be toasted in champagne, as well as toasters. Roseanne says: “It’s hard to believe you’re dealing with a formula that’s been around 250 years Hasn’t the sandwich done well? It ought to be knighted.”