JOIN THE 2028 COMMITTEE
Our next planning meeting: Monday 8th September 2025 at 8pm in the Saracen's Head in Dunmow
Come along, meet the team and find out more about what is involved in organising our 900 year old spectacle.
Get in touch to find out more or to register your interest.
JOIN THE JURY - click for info
If you will be aged between 18-25 on the 15th July 2028, unmarried, come from Dunmow or the surrounding villages and would like to be a member of our jury for the next Trials - get in touch, we'd love to hear from you!
ENTER THE FLITCH TRIALS - click for info
The next Dunmow Flitch Trials™ will be held on Saturday 15th July 2028.
Married couples, including same-sex couples, from anywhere in the world are eligible to apply to claim our Flitch, providing they are married on or before 13th July 2027.
Applications for the next Trials will open in September 2027 and close in February 2028.
Come back and check our website in September 2027 for further details.
WELCOME TO THE DUNMOW FLITCH TRIALS™
 The Dunmow Flitch Trials™ exist to award a flitch of bacon to married couples from anywhere in the world, if they can satisfy the Judge and Jury of 6 maidens and 6 bachelors that in 'twelvemonth and a day', they have 'not wisht themselves unmarried again'.
A reference to The Dunmow Flitch can even be found in The Wife of Bath's Tale within Chaucer's 14th century Canterbury Tales.
The Flitch Trials are held every 4 years in Great Dunmow, Essex, England. The town is located north-east of London, just off the A120 between the M11 at Stansted Airport and Colchester: view a map
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 this website, then come and watch the trials.
For more info, to volunteer or sponsor the Flitch Trials, please get in touch.
The Flitch Trials are about Marriage. Hopefully, happy marriages. High Court Judge Sir Paul Coleridge launched The Marriage Foundation in 2012. Sir Paul's wise words make us think that especially, in these austere times, less is actually more: 'Marriage is not something that falls out of the sky, ready made, onto beautiful people in white linen suits,' says Sir Paul, 'It involves endless hard work, compromises, forgiveness and love.'
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What's a Flitch of Bacon?
It's also known as a side of bacon, which is basically half a pig, cut lengthways, cured & smoked.
Become a Friend
As a Friend of the Flitch Trials, you will be helping to secure the future of this unique and ancient tradition. Every four years, the cost and complexity of putting on the Flitch Trials increases. With your support we can increase the network of people interested in preserving the custom and developing the event to ensure the Flitch Trials continues to be a mainstay on the town's event calendar. Find out more... |
