You may have heard of cheese rolling, but I bet you haven’t heard of fig pie rolling. A centuries-old English village tradition that draws thousands of spectators.
Currently, a sleepy village in Cheshire is waiting. Wybunbury is eagerly anticipating the arrival of thousands of spectators who will throng its streets, fill the pavements, and witness the most significant event of the year.
But what could be? To watch the Wimbledon final? The Grand Slam Track? Or even the Red Bull Soapbox Race. No, not one of those; they’re there to see the Fig Pie Rolling Competition.
What might seem alien to you and me is a centuries-old tradition that’s been going on for so long that even the organisers don’t know the origin story.
What is clear, however, is the way to play. Each competitor must arrive with a baked homemade pie, following the recipe sold in the village, no bigger than six inches in diameter, filled with figs and apples.
The participants must then register their pies with the organisers, where they will be subjected to an inspection to make sure they meet the correct dimensions and that the recipe is followed.
Their next step: Turn up, stand at the top of the hill, and try to roll their pie as far as possible down the hill.
The longest recorded pie roll at the Wybunbury Fig Pie Wakes was 102.8 meters in 2013. A benchmark that has yet to be surpassed by the thousand competitors in the past twelve years.
“The people who roll it hard don’t necessarily always succeed. If you have a good line, it’ll build up a bit of pace and get you further.” Reveals Simon Baldwin, an organiser of the Wybunbury Fig Pie Wakes, “Some people think having thicker pastry makes it go further; some people think thin pastry is better.”
“We see some unusual shapes and sizes of the pies. Some people think having thicker pastry makes it go further; some people think thin pastry is better.”
There is no clear blueprint to success, as the competition has not seen a repeated winner of the event since its re-introduction to the village in 1995. The unpredictability of the pie-rolling competition became obvious nearly 15 years ago.
“The event has attracted people from all over the world. A few Germans heard about the pie-rolling event, and they must have thought, ‘Wow,’ because they travelled to Wybunbury to compete the next year.
“And unbelievably, one of the German tourists won. Simon chuckles.
Despite its long history, the Wybunbury Fig Pie event looked like it had seen its last pie roll. Nearly a hundred years ago, the event was cancelled due to incidents of “raucous” behaviour, which Simon attributes to many pubs within the village.
However, in 1995, the Wybunbury Tower Preservation Trust decided to reinstate the Fig Pie Rolling Wakes as a fundraiser to look after and maintain the iconic Leaning Tower of Wybunbury. Since then, the event has grown from year to year.
“When we reintroduced the competition, it was very much a smaller event. However, this year, we had over 300 pies rolled, the largest number of pies that we’ve ever rolled.
“The big thing for us all is to bring value to the village. Without people helping us and providing various things, I don’t think it would make a great deal of money.”
It’s the type of competition that challenges the conventions of what we think a ‘real sport’ should be. The weird and wonderful competition of pie rolling has given new life to the village, creating an environment for community building that couldn’t be replicated in any other way.
“The local school gets involved. We have serious competition for the adults, but there are categories for those under five and those aged five to ten years old. So the kids enjoy it too.”
The 2025 edition of the Wybunbury Fig Pie Wakes returns this Saturday, the 7th of June. The competition is wide open, so if you fancy yourself as a bit of a roller, grab a pie, follow the recipe, and take your shot, because even the novices have a chance at becoming the champion.
