Flitch of bacon custom in the 13th century there are some who would date it to earlier Norman or Saxon times, one suggested date being 1104, the founding of the Little Dunmow Priory. This is partly because the flitch of Dunmow seems to have already been common knowledge in very early works such as the prologue to Chaucer's "Wife of Bath" and also in the "Visions of Pierce Plowman" by William Langland. Some would also read passages in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" as alluding to the Dunmow flitch. It is possible that the "flitch of bacon" custom was at one time quite widespread. There was
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