Flitch of bacon custom the same, and that this led to the custom of married couples who actually succeeded in living in harmony for a given period being rewarded with a piece of boar meat. Guerber states that it is this tradition that became the "flitch of bacon" custom after converting boar meat into bacon. "The flitch of bacon", subtitled "The custom of Dunmow: a tale of English home" is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth first published in 1854. The central plot of the story is the flitch at Dunmow and the scheming by the leading character to be awarded it by marrying
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