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 have been more that are unknown (among the possible ones there are Montagu Burgoyne and his wife Elizabeth). Three are known prior to the dissolution of the monasteries from the records of the house of Sir Richard St George, and a further three awards are known from the records of the manor court at Dunmow now in the British Museum. There was a long gap after the dissolution, but the tradition was revived by Sir Thomas May in 1701 when he became the owner of the Priory. There was an attempt made to claim the flitch on 12 June 1772