Great Dunmow · Essex
The Flitch Trials
A market town where, for nine centuries, devoted couples have sworn they never once wished themselves unwed — and won a flitch of bacon for their honesty.
Discover the story ↓
The Tradition
A custom kept since 1104
The Dunmow Flitch is one of England’s oldest living traditions. Any couple who can prove that, for a year and a day, they have not once quarrelled nor wished themselves unmarried may come before the town and claim a flitch — a whole side — of cured bacon.
First recorded in the twelfth century and immortalised by Chaucer, the ceremony has been held in Great Dunmow since the 1830s. Today it draws visitors from across the world to watch marriage put gently, and rather wittily, on trial.
The Ceremony
How the trial unfolds
I
The Oath
The couple kneel upon two pointed stones and swear that, sleeping or waking, they have not once repented their marriage for a twelvemonth and a day.
II
The Jury
A jury of six maidens and six bachelors of the parish hears the case, weighs the evidence, and decides whether the couple’s devotion truly rings true.
III
The Award
If the court is won over, the flitch is granted — and the victors are carried shoulder-high through the town in the ancient Flitch Chair to great cheering.
Explore
Visit Great Dunmow
The Market Town
A chartered market town since 1253, with timber-framed inns, Georgian frontages and a high street made for wandering.
St Mary’s Church
The parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, its flint tower rising over the town much as it has since the fourteenth century.
Doctor’s Pond
A quiet, tree-fringed pond where, in 1784, the first modern lifeboat is said to have been trialled — a moment of history all its own.
🇬🇧 English
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