A revival of the custom was effected in 1855 by Harrison Ainsworth, author of the novel The Flitch of Bacon, but the scene of the ceremony was transferred to the town hall of Great Dunmow.
The charges of coal fall into the hopper with a heavy shock, and in order to save the knife-edges there is a strong pin in each side of the hopper below the knife-edge, which, before the charge of coal is dropped into the hopper, is acted on by a strong horizontal flitch - plate, which heaves the hopper off the knife-edges and relieves them from the shock.