The Dunmow Flitch

The priory of Dunmow offered a flitch of bacon to any married couple who would swear that after a year of marriage they had never quarrelled nor wished themselves unmarried. Only a few claims are recorded before the Reformation, the first in 1445. On 20 June 1751 Thomas Shakeshaft, a weaver of Wethersfield, and his wife Ann knelt on two stones at the church door, took the oath and carried the bacon home in procession. The flitch trials are still held at Dunmow every few years.