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.
The 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 on Cooper's Hill was already an old tradition in the early 1800s.
It could have evolved from early fertility rites and hopes of a successful harvest, or to safeguard the 'Commoners' Rights of the inhabitants of the Hill.