Flitch of bacon custom original stones on which the couple knelt had been removed and the chair on which they were carried if successful is kept permanently in Little Dunmow Priory. However, replacements for both of these have been provided for the modern ceremony. The modern trials are held in the town of Great Dunmow rather than the location of the original custom at Little Dunmow, a smaller nearby village. Dunmow claims to be the only location to have continued the "flitch of bacon" custom into the 21st century. Although the flitch ceremony at Dunmow is generally held to have originated with the Fitzwalters
Flitch of bacon custom by John and Susan Gilder. The couple had given due notice of their claim and were accompanied by a large crowd of onlookers. However, the lord of the manor had ordered that the ceremony should not take place, and the gates of the Priory were nailed shut to prevent it. By 1809 the tradition was definitely abolished. A further attempt to claim the flitch was made in 1832 by Josiah Vine, a retired cheesemaker, who travelled with his wife from Reading to make his claim. He too was refused a trial by a very unsympathetic Steward of Little Dunmow. "John