THE HISTORY OF THE DUNMOW FLITCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 30 November 1933, Page 12

THE HISTORY OF THE DUNMOW FLITCH

Eiu'li Aligns!, Hank Holiday jiiurried couples who Ini,vis lived together for a year and a day in complete happiness, with no word of discord, go to Diiniiioiv, Essex, in the hope of winning a Hitch of bacon. The custom is so old that its origin is ‘doubtful. The earliest written record of the reward is dated 14-15; this can be seen in the Carlnhtry of Dnnniow Priory, now in the British Museum. Even then the ceremony was not in its infancy; a hundred years earlier Chancer writes of it.

Nome historians believe that the flitch came over with the Compieror. This belief is based on the fact that “at the Abbey of St. Melanie, near Rennes, the old capital of Brittany, there had been hanging, for more than six centuries, a side of Bacon, which had been set apart for the first pair who ‘for a year and a day had lived without dispute and grumbling.’ ” The pilgrimage to Diinminv lias a steady record through many centuries, .11 was Hubert Kit/,waiter, who in the reign id’ King Henry 111 rebuilt the already decayed Priory of Dimmow. and in his days (he custom was in force. The Priory existed till lotto, and the household accounts of the last Prior show expenditure for Hitches. After the dissolution of the monasteries the lords of (he manor of Little Dimmow kept the ceremony alive.