Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake

Format

From the top of Cooper's Hill, a 7–9-pound (3–4-kilogram) round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down the hill, which is 287 metres (942 ft) high, 200 yards (180 m) long, and has a slope of around 50 percent. Competitors then start racing down the hill after the cheese.

The competitors aim to catch the cheese; however, it has around a one-second head start and can reach high speeds, enough to knock over and injure a spectator. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese, even though the cheese is never actually caught. Multiple races are held during the day, with separate events for men and women. Participants in the downhill races must be over the age of 10.

There are separate uphill races. Considerably less hazardous, these races are open to minors. In the past (e.g. 2014), the uphill race categories have been "boys 14 and under" and "girls 14 and under". In the most recent races in 2025, the children's uphill categories were "under 11" and "11 and over". The adult's uphill race was mixed.

The number of races held during the event has varied over the years, but there are usually four downhill races (three men's, one women's) and a number of uphill races (adults and children).

In the 2013 competition, a foam replica replaced the cheese for safety reasons, but a real cheese wheel was restored the following year.

History

The first written evidence of cheese rolling is found in a message written to the Gloucester town crier, published in Berrow's Worcester Journal on 9 June 1836. Despite this, the tradition is believed to be even older. The BBC states that there are "suggestions it began 10 years earlier" than the 1836 date. National Geographic said that the "first recorded Gloucestershire Cheese-Roll happened in 1826, although the tradition is possibly older". The BBC stated in 2025 that "theories suggest it may have started at least 600 years ago". Dorothy Gladys Spicer stated in the 1954 book "Yearbook of English Festivals" that the tradition had "been famous for at least five hundred years."

The event previously took place each Whit Monday, but was moved to the Spring Bank Holiday. According to Jean Jefferies, who has written a book about, and set up the original website for, the event: "It seems originally the event took place at midsummer", was moved "at some point" to Whit Monday, and then moved to the Spring Bank Holiday in 1967.

Two possible origins have been proposed for the ceremony. First, it may have evolved from a requirement for maintaining grazing rights on the common. Second, there may be pagan origins for the custom of rolling objects down the hill. It is thought that bundles of burning brushwood were rolled down the hill to represent the birth of the New Year after winter. Connected with this belief is the traditional scattering of buns, biscuits and sweets at the top of the hill by the Master of Ceremonies. This is said to be a fertility rite to encourage the fruits of harvest.

In 1982, a team of students from the University of Bristol filmed the 31 May event using film cameras, with one camera overcranked to produce slow motion.

In 1993, sixteen people were injured, four of them seriously, during the event. In 2009, safety concerns were raised after 15,000 spectators arrived, when there was only space for around 5,000. These concerns led to the organisers cancelling the 2010 event. Despite the cancellation, around 100 people attended and held an unofficial event.

In 2011, a new two-day ticketed event was proposed in order to address the safety concerns raised in previous years and to allow the event to continue operating. The proposals were received negatively due to the cost of tickets, and the proposed event was cancelled following the organisers receiving abuse. Despite the cancellation, the event continued unofficially with around 200 people attending. The event has continued without official management or planning alongside the Council Safety Advisory Group.

Cheese

The cheese currently used in the event is 7–9-pound (3–4-kilogram) Double Gloucester, a hard cheese traditionally made in a circular shape. Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round the side, and it is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race. Formerly, three cheeses were presented by parishioners, and the cheeses were usually rolled by them. A collection is usually made now to purchase them, as well as sweets, and also to provide prize money.

Since 1988, the cheese has been supplied by local cheesemaker Diana Smart and her son Rod from their Churcham farm. In May 2013, a police inspector warned all of those involved in planning the event, including the 86-year-old cheesemaker, that they could be held responsible for any injuries. Diana Smart died in 2021.

In 2013, organisers of the event switched to a lightweight foam version of the cheese for safety reasons. In the second race of 2013, Australian Caleb Stalder managed to catch the fake cheese and claim victory despite being some way behind the leaders. In 2014, the organisers returned to using real cheese.

Injuries

Due to the steepness and uneven surface of Cooper's Hill, there are usually several injuries each year. St John Ambulance have previously provided first aid cover at the event; however, this stopped in 2012 when the event was no longer being officially managed. The lack of official medical provision on site has led to concerns from the local resilience forum about the safety of the event.

Canadian competitor Delaney Irving won the ladies' race in 2023, despite finishing unconscious, and only learning of her victory in the medical enclosure. Six competitors were taken to hospital by ambulance for treatment following the event.

Results

Note: All competitors before 2004 were British so a nationality flag is omitted.

Cheese-rolling in popular culture

1948: Cheese Rolling on Cooper's Hill, a painting by Charles March Gere, is part of the Museum of Gloucester collection, and depicts the event.

Early 1970s: The New Inn pub was renamed 'The Cheese Rollers Bar & Restaurant' in the early 1970s. Located in the neighbouring village of Shurdington, it is named after the event, and has a collection of previous cheese casings along with photographs and articles about the event.

2006: Comedian Bridget Christie performed a show about cheese rolling at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, inspired by seeing the Cooper's Hill event as a child.

2008: Cheese rolling was featured in the first episode of the Five television series Rory & Paddy's Great British Adventure, broadcast on 13 August 2008, and was described as "the grandaddy of weird sports" by presenters Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness.

2009: The video for the single "Can You Give It" by the Maccabees was filmed around the event, and featured Chris Anderson, the most successful known cheese roller.

2010: English author Terry Prachett referenced cheese rolling in his urban fantasy novel, I Shall Wear Midnight. Pratchett made the cheese roll a competition between the humans and the fairy folk known as the Nac Mac Feegle who used a sentient cheese, Horace, to win the race.

2018: The contest was the subject of the BBC One programme The Great Cheese Chase. The contest was also featured in the German reality show Joko gegen Klaas – Das Duell um die Welt, in which former German footballer Thorsten Legat was expected to participate but ultimately refused to do so.

2019: Let's Roll is a short film directed by Chris Thomas about a teenage girl, Antonia (Amy Bowden), attempting to emulate her brother's success in cheese rolling. The film was screened at the BAFTA-qualifying Norwich and Edinburgh film festivals.