Cheese rolling is wacky, wild and wonderful
WILD, wacky and in its way wonderful, the annual cheese roll on Coopers Hill, which traditionally takes place each Spring Bank Holiday Monday, is a dramatic example of living archaeology.
Crowds gather, as they have done for an unknown number of centuries, to take part in the local custom which is as curious as it is ancient.
This strange business was probably going on in the days when Roman nobles lived in the villa at nearby Witcombe.
And no doubt it was as incomprehensible to them as it is to the many visitors from abroad who flock to the spectacle today.
The sight of people willingly flinging themselves down the cliff-like precipice in pursuit of a double Gloucester cheese must do much to bolster the reputation England has for eccentricity.
By tradition, the yearly madness started at 6pm, although for some years past noon has been roll-off time.
There are four chases down the onein-one incline, a few races up it, plus a tug of war.
That’s the main menu of events, but in days gone by there was more mysterious symbolism attached to the occasion.
When the May pole was erected at the top of the incline, for example, a bundle of gorse was tied halfway up the shaft.
Why this was done is long forgotten, but it was part of the whole pagan ritual.
The remains of a 200 acre, Iron Age hill fort’s earthworks can be seen on top of Cooper’s Hill, so we know the spot
has been inhabited for thousands of years.
Unfortunately, of course, we don’t know who the colourful character was who first had the idea of staging an athletics meetings on a precipitous slope, or why.
But the origins of cheeserolling probably embrace fertility rites and a prechristian celebration of spring.
Our local custom is a relative of the egg rolling events that take place at the same time of year in various parts of Britain - most famously in the grounds of the White House, since the custom was introduced in 1877 by the wife of President Madison.
There’s also an orange rolling event at Dunstable in Bedfordshire each Good Friday.
The first written reference to cheeserolling dates back to 1836 when the city crier of Gloucester announced the event.
In the late 19th century, cheese rolls were even more frenetic than they are today, with gypsy stalls, dancing, frolicking and high-jinks.
So many high-jinks in fact that for a few years in the latter period of Queen Victoria’s reign the cheese roll was banned on grounds of excessive rowdiness, but it made a comeback, proving that it’s impossible to stop folk being mad if their minds are set on it.
Not even the Second World War prevented the cheese roll taking place, despite the absence of a cheese to roll.
A pretend double Gloucester was made out of wood.
Today an organising committee of local residents and volunteer helpers generally succeeds in keeping good order.
A Master of Ceremony, who wears the traditional white smock coat of a Cotswold shepherd, a top hat decorated with ribbons and carries a wooden staff, always presides over the ceremony.
Bill Brooks did the job for 50 years until his death in 1934, then Tom Window assumed the mantle.
Tom was born at Witcombe and spent his working life as a quarryman on Cooper’s Hill.
In 1956 he handed over to Ted Millard, a local farmer, who became Master of Ceremonies and continued in the job until his retirement in 1972.
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From that date Arthur Bick of Brockworth took over until in 1990 he was superseded by another local farmer named Rob Seeks.
Since 1970 Coopers Hill has been the property of Gloucestershire County Council and each year the council receives calls from an assortment of individuals and bodies who want the event banned on various grounds.
It’s not sponsored. Nobody makes any money out of it. There’s hardly any prestige in winning. In fact the entire daft business is devoid of reason, commercialism, or glamour.
And many people think that’s a good enough reason to keep doing it.
Incidentally, the charming painting of the cheeserolling you see here is by Charles March Gere (1869-1957).
Born in Gloucester, Gere worked as a book illustrator for the Kelmscott Press, which was owned by William Morris who lived in Gloucestershire at Kelmscott Manor, Lechlade.
In 1902 Gere moved to Painswick,
with Annrachael Harwood from The Wilson Art Gallery & Museum, Cheltenham
where he lived for the rest of his life with his sister Margaret, also a painter and from then on he concentrated on landscapes, many of them in Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds.
Rather lovely they are too and never short of bidders when they come up for auction.
An oil on canvas (33in by 57in) painting of his titled Cotswold Holiday”sold at Bonham’s for £3,750 in September 2012.