This July, the next Dunmow Flitch Trial will take place, with the winner taking home half a pig in bacon form.

The Dunmow Flitch Trials, which is believed to have started early in the 12th century, is an event where a flitch of bacon is awarded to married couples who are able to successfully prove that they have “not wisht themselves unmarried again” in the last year and a day.

Successful couples are carried in the Flitch Chair to the Market Place where they take the Flitch Oath. Those who are unsuccessful must follow behind, but still receive a consolation prize of gammon. As the trials are not a competition, multiple claimants can be successful.

References to the Dunmow Flitch Trials can be seen in The Wife of Bath’s Tale, within Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from the 14th century.

The trials are held every 4 years, on a leap year and take the form of a court, made up of a judge plus a jury of 6 maidens and 6 bachelors. The claimants are represented by their own Counsel. Claimants can be from anywhere in the world, with previous couples being from places including Spain, America and New Zealand.

This year, there will be 3 trial sittings – a single trial in the morning, 2 trials during the afternoon and 2 in the evening. For those looking to compete, you will need to wait until the next leap year as applications for the 2024 Trials have now closed.