The Pace Egg Play is perhaps the world's oldest drama and can be traced back through English and European Mummers' plays to ancient Egypt and Syria. It is a mixture of a pagan rebirth ceremony with the later influences of Christianity and the Crusades. The Heptonstall performance is a traditional Pennine variant of the play performed at Easter time, which differ from most of the country were they are usually performed around the new year.

The text of the Pace Egg has been passed down orally over the centuries. Over time in the Calder Valley area it had watered down to a later tradition of being performed by the village boys for coppers or eggs at Easter time so as to enable them to afford to go to the fair.

Heptonstall Pace Egg was revived in 1979, but it was decided it was part of village tradition should be kept it going.