Cooper’s Hill Annual Cheese Rolling and Wake |     home

When?   |   Where?   |   How to enter   |   What happened in 2004?   |   PHOTOGRAPHS   |   How to get there   |   Where to stay   |   What happens?   |   Why?   |   Organization   |   Past events   |   F.A.Q   |   Contact Us

The start of a race – the cheese has been rolled, the competitors are ready.

Why?

The annual Gloucestershire ‘Cheese Rolling and Wake’ has been taking place for possibly hundreds of years.

It may have been started by the Phoenicians, the Ancient Britons, or the Romans.

Remains of an Ancient Britons’ fort stand at the top of the hill, and the Romans are known to have inhabited the area.

Research undertaken so far is not complete, but documentary evidence shows that Cheese Rolling  was already an old tradition in the early 1800s.

It could have evolved from ancient fertility rites, hopes of a successful harvest or to safeguard the ‘Commoners’ Rights’ of the inhabitants of the Hill.

There is no evidence of a break in this amazing event*, one that thousands flock to see each year, and local residents are determined that the tradition will never die.

*Twice in recent years, the public event has been cancelled (for circumstances beyond the residents’ control) but on each occasion a small ceremony has taken place with a single cheese rolled, to maintain the tradition.