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This quaint ancient ceremony is an annual event in Little Dunmow, Essex, England, which died out in 1772 but has been revived at various times.

A married couple would present themselves to town authorities for the trials; if they could prove that they had lived for twelve months without ever wishing, either awake or asleep, that they weren’t married, they would receive a gammon or flitch of bacon – half a pig, also known as a side of bacon. Or, as the British clergyman and antiquary, John Brand (1744 - 1806) put it in his classic, Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain: Including the Whole of Mr. Bourne's ‘Antiquitates Vulgares’ (1777):

A custom formerly prevailed, and has indeed been recently observed at Dunmow, in Essex. of giving a flitch of bacon to any married couple who would swear that neither of them, in a year and a day, either sleeping or waking, repented of their marriage.

The actual words of the ancient rite, performed before a ‘judge’ in a mock court and a ‘jury’ of maidens and bachelors, require that in “twelvemonth and a day” both spouses have “not wish’t themselves unmarried again”.

The full pledge went:

You shall swear by custom of confession,
If ever you made nuptial trangresssion,
Be you either married man or wife,
If you have brawls or contentious strife
Or otherwise, at bed or at board,
Offended each other in deed or word:
Or, since the parish-clerk said Amen,
You wish’t yourselves unmarried agen,
Or in a twelvemonth and a day,
Repented not in thought any way,
But continued true in thought and desire
As when you join'd hands in the quire.
If to these conditions, without all feare,
Of your own accord you will freely swear,
A whole gammon of bacon you shall receive,
And bear it hence with love and good leave;
For this is our custom at Dunmow well knowne,
Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon’s your own.

The parties were to make their oath before the Prior and Convent and the whole town, humbly kneeling in the churchyard upon two hard, pointed stones. The ancient oath is still sworn today:

We do swear by custom of confession
That we ne’er made nuptial transgression,
Not since we were married man and wife,
By household brawles or contentious strife,
Or otherwise in bed or a boarde,
Offended each other in deed or in word,
Or in a twelve months and a day
Repented not in thought in any way.
Or since the church clerke said Amen
Wish’t yourselves unmarried agen,
But continue true and in desire,
As when you joyn'd hands in Holy Quire.

The successful husband was called the ‘pilgrim’, and with his wife was lifted up in a chair on men’s shoulders, and carried about the churchyard and through the village, with the bacon carried in procession before him, attended by the parishioners and other spectators who followed flitch and spouses with great carousing and noise. Still today, the old carved oak chair in which the successful couple were lifted remains, preserved in the priory church.

When did it begin?

Literary references to ‘The Dunmow Trials’ go back to medieval times and were first recorded in 1340 by Geoffrey Chaucer in ‘The Wife of Bath’ in his Canterbury Tales. The poem of 'Piers Ploughman', half a century before Chaucer, mentions the custom in a manner that implies a general knowledge of it among his readers.

The custom might be much older, as it has been said that it started with the Lord of the Manor of Little Dunmow, Robert Fitzwalter, a favourite of King John, December 24, 1166/67 - October 18/19, 1216 (Knowlson¹ says it was his successor, Henry III). It is said that Robert (or Reginald, depending on source) Fitzwalter and his wife dressed themselves as humble folk and went to the priory to ask the blessing of the prior a year after their marriage. Their devotion so impressed the prior that he gave them a flitch of bacon. The Fitzwalters then revealed their identity and Bob/Reggie gave his lands to the priory on one small condition: a side of bacon must be given in perpetuity to any couple who could claim they were similarly devoted. It’s a nice tale, but we have no evidence of its authenticity.

One common claim is that the ceremony dates back as far as 1104 to the Priory of Little Dunmow. In the priory’s cartulary, now in the British Museum, there are three records of the flitch. In 1467 Stephen Samuel and his wife of Little Easton, in Essex, received a gammon of bacon. It’s uncertain on which day it was always held, but we know that in 1701 it was held on June 7 (this source gave June 12). www.dunmowflitchtrials.co.uk/ shows varying dates.

The first record we have of winners, which we have in the cartulary, is from 1445 when the successful couple were Richard Wright and his wife who travelled all the way from Norwich.

In the 18^th century the Dunmow Flitch was extremely well attended:

“In 1751 the bacon was claimed by Thomas Shakeshaft, weaver of Weathersfield. The claimants had been married seven years, and no objection having been found to their claim, they went through the usual ceremonies and received a gammon of bacon. This case appears to have made great noise in the country, and no less than five thousand persons are said to have been present – the road being literally blocked up by the various vehicles from the town of Great Dunmow to the Priory. It is said that on this occasion the successful candidates realised a large sum of money by selling slices of bacon to those who had come to witness the ceremony.”   Source

Revival

In 1855 a Mr Harrison Ainsworth tried to revive the custom, but the lord of the manor refused to allow the ceremony to take place at Little Dunmow; some of the clergy and gentry also opposed its transference to nearby Great Dunmow. A place was found eventually, and the ceremony (which was held on July 19) still takes place there today.

It’s said that the flitch was offered to Queen Victoria after the first year of her marriage to Prince Albert. However, the queen was not amused, and didn’t accept the gift.

For 600 years there was a similar custom at the Abbey of St Meleine, Bretagne, France, where bacon was also the prize.

The aforementioned Knowlson is disapproving of what must be an entertaining day out:

“This is all the more remarkable; for the custom is essentially vulgar, and is founded on a vulgar estimate of marriage. It passes comprehension how respectable people can go through any public ceremonial to attest their happiness in marriage and to win a flitch of bacon. But why bacon, the curious reader will ask? To that question there is no answer available, except the utility of the flitch as a household commodity. The same custom prevailed at Whichenover, and it has been traced in Brittany.”

¹Knowlson, T Sharper, The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs, T Werner Laurie, Ltd, London, 1930

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