- Treacle mining
Treacle mining is the (fictitious)
mining oftreacle (similar tomolasses ) in a raw form similar to coal. The subject purports to be a serious topic but is in fact an attempt to test the credulity of the reader. The thick black nature of treacle makes the deception plausible. The topic has been a standing joke inBritish humour for a century or more.Locations often suggested
Several treacle mines have been claimed to exist in Britain, most notably in
Bisham , Chobham,Tadley ,Skidby ,Ditchford , Crick andDunchideock , in several northern towns includingNatland andBaggrow in Cumbria, inCroftamie , Scotland, and in the obviously fictional village of Wymsey.In
Leeds andWest Yorkshire it is commonly said that the Treacle Mines are inPudsey - the other item of note about this small town being that birds are said to fly backwards there. The paper mills aroundMaidstone , inKent , were known as "TheTovil Treacle Mines" (Tovil pronounced to rhyme with "Bovril " - not "Toeville"), by locals, after the area where one of the mills owned by Albert E. Reed [http://www.reed-elsevier.com/index.cfm?articleid=113] was situated. The company also helped the myth along by regularly exhibiting a float in the Maidstone carnival with a "treacle mine" theme. One suggested answer to the treacle mine story in this area is a rumour that the local paper industry was under threat during the Second World War because they were unable to import timber. As a solution to this, the fermentation of straw was tried. This was found not to work, a sticky goo being the result. However this is not actually true. There were repeated attempts to make paper from materials other than rags in the 19th century and an early commercial success was achieved by Samuel Hook and his son, Charles Townsend Hook using straw at Upper Tovil Mill in the 1850s. The road next to Upper Tovil Mill became known, and was later officially named, as Straw Mill Hill. To produce pulp, the straw was cooked in hot alkali. After separation of the fibre, the remaining liquid had the appearance of black treacle. Upper Tovil Mill closed in the 1980s and the site was used for a housing estate.Tudeley andFrittenden in Kent are also said to have had treacle mines.Modern folklore suggests that the name derives from the use of old Treacle tins to store money in because banks could not be trusted and that the tins were buried around the village by locals. Criminals soon realised that if you needed funds you could try "mining" for Treacle tins in the vicinity.
Explanations offered
The story given to the listener might offer a plausible explanation such as:
*That Cromwell's army buried barrels of molasses that later leaked and seeped to the surface.
*That prehistoric sugar cane beds became fossilised in a similar way to peat and coal.There are two theories behind the Treacle Mines of Tadley:
*That, in the early 20th century, a gardener unearthed a tin of treacle (or possible golden syrup) containing an amount of money
*That, more likely, the "treacle" refers to the heavy clay soil of the area, hence Tadley Treacle Mines.Origins
"Treacle" originally meant any kind of a thick syrupy
salve , and it is likely that bituminous seeps from coal deposits were used in traditional remedies, so this may have been the kernel of truth that inspired the joke. The "Tar Tunnel" nearBlists Hill inShropshire has natural deposits oftar oozing from the walls which could be said to resemble treacle.Another explanation is that "treacle" originally meant 'a medicine', derived from the appearance of the Greek derivative 'theriacal' meaning medicinal (Gk "theriake" = a curative or antidote), so the various healing wells around Britain were called "treacle wells". Treacle later came to mean a sticky syrup after the popularity of a honey-based drug called "Venice treacle", and the continued use of the old form in the treacle wells led to the joke. [Cooper, Quentin and Sullivan, Paul "Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem" , Bloomsbury:Edinburgh, (1994), ISBN 0-7475-1807-6]
Actual places
There is a Treacle Mine
Public house inGrays ,Essex . The Treacle Mine Roundabout features on the local bus timetable and is named after the public house.The Broomsquire Hotel in
Silchester RoadTadley ,Hampshire , was previously known as the Treacle Mine Hotel. Another Treacle Mine pub is inHereford .Cultural references
The subject of the Treacle Mine has been a whimsical joke played on children and the gullible since at least the
nineteenth century and may go back even further.*In "
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland " byLewis Carroll , (1865) Alice is shushed at the Mad Hatter's tea party for disbelieving a story told to her by theDormouse about a treacle well, inspired by the holy well atBinsey, Oxfordshire .*In "
Uncle and the Treacle Trouble " (1967), a children's book byJ. P. Martin , the main character (anelephant named "Uncle") discovers the true meaning of a cryptic sign which reads "Treac Levat" ("Treacle Vat"). The characters soon discover it relates to a hidden treacle mine.*A treacle mine features in the novels "
Reaper Man " (1987) and "Night Watch" (2002) byTerry Pratchett . In the fictional Discworld city ofAnkh-Morpork there is a street named "Treacle Mine Road".*"
The Treacle People " was a children's TV show from 1995 based around a treacle mine.*Some of
Ken Dodd 'sDiddy Men were said to work in a jam butty mine in their TV series. This appears to be a similar concept.*In the webcomic
Questionable Content , Faye briefly convinces co-worker Raven that she has "bread lung" as a result of working in the southern bread mines; the concept explained is similar to that of treacle mining. [Questionable Content [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=641 Number 641: This One's Kinda Weird] ]See also
*
Snipe hunt
*Spaghetti tree
*Drop bear
*Jackalope
*Wild haggis References
External links
* [http://www.wymsey.co.uk/wymsey/treacle.htm Wymsey Treacle Mine]
* [http://www.treacleminer.co.uk Treacleminer - for all things treacle]
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