FOR LOVERS AND FOLKLORE ENTHUSIASTS - TAKING HOME THE BACON

WELCOME TO THE DUNMOW FLITCH TRIALS - HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED FOR A YEAR AND A DAY AND CAN CLAIM THE DUNMOW FLITCH? 9 JULY 2022

In one of my books (THE FOLKLORE OF ESSEX 2005) I enjoyed being a guest of the ancient Dunmow Flitch Trials which are held every four years in Essex. The Flitch Trials are held in the village of Great Dunmow, a town located north-east of London, just off the A120 between the M11 at Stansted Airport and Colchester.

A wonderful collection of folk from Great Dunmow in 1897

 

This peculiar, but entertaining event has gone down in history and a reference to The Dunmow Flitch can even be found in The Wife of Bath's Tale within Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century Canterbury Tales.The Dunmow Flitch Trials is an ancient custom with a traceable history back 900 years. The Trials were commonly practised then and Dunmow residents are proud to keep this tradition alive.  On Trials day - Saturday 9th July 2022 - you are invited to attend one, or all three court sittings at 10.30am, 2pm and 7pm, by purchasing tickets on the website. We must ensure that this unique local tradition continues for hundreds more years. So, if you haven't seen or heard of the Dunmow Flitch Trials before, take a browse through their website, then come and watch the trials.

If the couples (and there are usually four or five of them from around the world), can satisfy a Judge and Jury of six maidens and six bachelors that in 'twelvemonth and a day' they have 'not wisht themselves unmarried again', then who knows, they could win the coveted flitch of bacon. 

 

Dave Monk - BBC Essex (acting Counsel)

My own last visit to the Dunmow Flitch Trials - as a patron - involved a whole fascinating day spent meeting and interviewing the individual couples competing for the Flitch as well as numerous well known authors and television celebrities. Full details can be found on the website www.dunmowflitchtrails.com  

Clare Rayner and husband on the Bench!