Cheese rolling on Spring Bank Holiday

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 The last Monday in May is known as Spring Bank Holiday in the UK. In Gloucester - Cooper's Hill, to be precise - the Cheese Rolling and Wake takes place. Once a local event, it now has participants arriving from all over the world. The 2020 and 2021 races were cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the tradition was back with a bang in 2022.

The ceremony originally took place on Whit Monday, but was later moved to the Spring Bank Holiday. The first written evidence of the tradition comes from a message written to the Gloucester town crier in 1826. However, it can be deduced from the message that cheese rolling is actually a much older tradition - it is believed to be at least six hundred years old.

Why cheese rolling? It may have evolved from a requirement for maintaining grazing rights on the common. It is also possible that the custom of rolling objects down a hill has pagan origins: for instance, bundles of burning brushwood have been rolled down hills to represent the birth of the New Year after winter. It was also traditional for the Master of Ceremonies to scatter buns, biscuits and sweets at the top of the hill, a fertility rite to encourage the fruits of harvest.

When I first heard about cheese rolling, I assumed competitors sent small wheels of cheese down the hill and the winner was whichever one reached the bottom first. However, what actually happens is that a round of Double Gloucester cheese, weighing approximately 3-4 kg (7-9 pounds), is sent down the hill and competitors go racing after it. The winner is the first person over the finish line, and they get the cheese. Multiple races are held, including separate events for men and women.

Participants can aim to catch the cheese - however, the cheese can reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour.

Cheese rolling is not without its risks. In 1993, fifteen participants were injured, four seriously. For the last decade or so, concerns about health and safety means that there has been no official organisation and management. In 2013, a foam replica replaced the cheese during the race, though the winners were given actual cheese. In 2023, Delaney Irving, from Canada, won the women's race despite being knocked unconscious, and only realised her victory when she woke up in the medical tent.

Cheese rolling in 2009. By Will De Freitas on Flickr.


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