Flitch of bacon custom every leap year. The oath to be taken was very similar to the one at Whichnoure, that "neither of them in a year and a day, neither sleeping or waking, repented of their marriage". The couple are required to kneel on sharp stones in the churchyard while taking the oath and a verse was chanted; Following the taking of the oath, the couple are then paraded around the town with their bacon in a noisy ceremony, much as at Whichnoure. The historical Dunmow flitch is known to have been successfully claimed only a total of six times, although there may
Flitch beam fire would not probably affect the iron until the wooden beams were badly burned.” With the advent of high-strength engineered lumber, the advantages of flitch-beams disappeared. For example, comparing the capacity of 2 beams spanning 18 feet: Additionally, use of this type of beam has greatly declined due to the high cost of labor. Engineered lumber can be cut to length and installed much like sawn lumber; the flitch requires shop fabrication and/or field bolting. This, coupled with a much increased self-weight of the beam (11.4 pounds (5.2 kg) for engineered wood vs. 25.2 pounds (11.4 kg) for a flitch