Cheese rolling Road closures will mean fans face lengthy walk
IF you’re heading for the cheese rolling event on the bank holiday weekend, make sure you’re wearing suitable footwear as you’ll have to walk a mile or two to be able to watch it.
For the past nine years police have closed the roads around Coopers Hill so the thousands of spectators expected to turn up to watch can be safely accommodated.
This means parking is very limited and you’ll have to walk at least a mile to the hill wherever you find a space to leave your car during the event on Sunday, June 5.
Green Street, Cooper’s Hill Lane, Nut Hill and Painswick Road will all have sections closed off from midnight to 8pm on the Sunday.
Specifically, the A46 Painswick Road will be closed from Ermin Street to
Buckholt Road; Green Street will be closed from the A46 to Coopers Hill; Coopers Hill will be closed from the A46 to the end of the single track road; and finally Nuthill will be closed to traffic from the A46 to Bondend Road.
Parking along several roads will also be restricted or removed completely, including Ermin Street, Cirencester Road and Shurdington Road.
There will be no parking or waiting on Ermin Street from Vicarage Road to the A46 Painswick Road, Cirencester Road from the A46 Painswick Road to Birdlip Hill, and the A46 Shurdington Road Ermin Street to the A417.
One of Gloucestershire’s more eccentic events, the Cheese Rolling features contestants throwing themselves down a very steep hill in pursuit of a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. Such is the gradient of the slope of the hill, the cheese, or more latterly a foam replica, can reach speeds of up to 70mph. Anyone who has ever seen footage of the event knows that most of the pursuers also cannot keep their feet and spend a large part of their time just tumbling down the hill.
Members of Gloucestershire’s rugby clubs are roped in to catch them at the bottom, but minor and some even quite serious injuries do sometimes occur.
The first written record of the event dates back to 1826. But it seems even then it was seen as a long-standing tradition and some scholars think it dates back more than 600 years.
Originally a Whit Monday tradition for the villagers of Brockworth, Cheese Rolling has become world famous. It attracts participants from all over the world in the quest of cheese race glory.
The first of the 8lb Double Gloucester cheeses is usually rolled at noon with three open races, a women-only race and an uphill race for children.