Flitch of bacon custom the Plowman", In the present passage we have the earliest known allusion to the singular custom known as that of "the Dunmow flitch of Bacon." The custom was—"that if any pair could, after a twelvemonth of matrimony, come forward, and make oath at Dunmow [co. Essex] that, during the whole time, they had never had a quarrel, never regretted their marriage, and, if again open to an engagement, would make exactly that they had made, they should be rewarded with a flitch of Bacon." It is referred to in Chaucer (1343–1400) in a way that makes clear the reference would
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