Treacle Mines & Mining Treacle Like Oil

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I am interested in finding some of the original...erm.....foafers of the old urban legend of Treacle Mining in Britain. The required belief for this UL was that ancient sugar cane could be subjected to those same pressures as oil and coal. The resulting gloop was quite simply.......treacle and it was mined extensively in Britain by....erm....the ancients. It was either exhausted as a resource or abandoned due to superior trade in suger cane. The foaf is that it became a recovered resource during some period of crisis or innovation such as the industrial revolution or World War 1.

I have recently found something quite humourous that may explain it but I would like some feedback first becasue I may be wrong. My relic may be younger than the first reportings of the legend and as such, would be a product of the Urban Legend and not the other way round.
 
cf "The History of Jam Butty Mines" (Prof K Dodd, Tatifilarious Press, Liverpool, 1960 to date)
 
I have an issue of Fortean from 96 or 98. (its in glasgow) that contains an article that is written by a man searching for info on this legend. Can anyone help?

I will, of course, fetch the issue asap but that will not happen till next year.
 
I don't know if this will help, but during the Mad Hatter's tea party in Alice In Wonderland there is a story about three girls that lived down a treacle well:
"`You can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter; `so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well--eh, stupid?' "
 
School Trip....

:hmm: when I was at high school the first years always went on a camping trip to Wales. The highlight of this being a trip to a treacle mine. I missed the holiday, but my brother who went on the trip when he was in the first year insisted that it was a real treacle mine.

I was always fascinated by this, but have yet to find the truth in the rumour. Will be interested to hear what other people have to say in the subject.
 
the Lewis Carroll treacle well is a reference to a well located in Oxford, i think, that is nicknamed the Treacle Well. Other great purveyors of Treacle mining are, indeed, Ken Dodd and his small army of Diddymen...
 
"Did you hear Ken Dodd died?"

"Did he?"

"No, ... doddy!"

erm ... forget the coat, am gone
 
I found a fascinating account of the old treacle miners several months ago when researching some obscure thing or other.
It told (with tongue in cheek) that the whole treacle mine network was really a clandestine organisation, formed to thwart invasion by hostile forces! It was all code for an underground network of latent guerrillas...
I'll try and 'dig it up'!
Meanwhile, try this site;-

http://www.btinternet.com/~aardvark.nest/treacle.htm
 
are the Treacle People related, in some way, to Fraggle Rocks 'Dozers'...?
 
Lionel Beer was collecting such tales some years back. My contribution toward his collection was a for Tovil Treacle Mine, Maidstone, Kent, which a local newspaper author had mentioned in his book of local lore.
 
Whilst clearing & chucking out loads of old papers & stuff I came across this 4 page booklet which I must’ve picked up on a walk years ago.

Superb stuff which details Splunging Rods, Splatters, Gob Dibblers, Troshers, & the Great Treacle Mining Disaster of 1877.

Before her death a jar of Pleshey treacle was sent to the Queen every Christmas to be spread on the royal toast. I’m assuming the tradition carries on to the king.

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hunck said:
Whilst clearing & chucking out loads of old papers & stuff I came across this 4 page booklet which I must’ve picked up on a walk years ago.

Superb stuff which details Splunging Rods, Splatters, Gob Dibblers, Troshers, & the Great Treacle Mining Disaster of 1877.

Before her death a jar of Pleshey treacle was sent to the Queen every Christmas to be spread on the royal toast. I’m assuming the tradition carries on to the king.

View attachment 76190

View attachment 76191
View attachment 76193
Click to expand...

Be a darling up upload the full text, @hunck
 
Anonymous said:
"Did you hear Ken Dodd died?"

"Did he?"

"No, ... doddy!"

erm ... forget the coat, am gone
Click to expand...
On TV last night we saw some incident wherein a dog was killed.

Techy said 'That dog's dead!' to which I asked 'Whose dog is it?'

He said 'Don't start that again!' :mad:
:evillaugh:
 
hunck said:
Whilst clearing & chucking out loads of old papers & stuff I came across this 4 page booklet which I must’ve picked up on a walk years ago.

Superb stuff which details Splunging Rods, Splatters, Gob Dibblers, Troshers, & the Great Treacle Mining Disaster of 1877.

Before her death a jar of Pleshey treacle was sent to the Queen every Christmas to be spread on the royal toast. I’m assuming the tradition carries on to the king.

View attachment 76190

View attachment 76191
View attachment 76193
Click to expand...

A certain town near me in Somerset has an indelible connection to a breakaway sect of treacle miners that took agin' the newest steam-powered Splunging Rod technology of Pleshey in the early 19th century - known as 'Spluddites', they were chased out of the area by gangs of angry progress-minded Gob Dobblers.

They eventually made their home not far from the Somerset-Dorset border, discovered treacle reserves that were bordered by deposits of paleolithic cider apples and the rest is history!

Inspired by the Tolpuddle Martyrs they began a trades union and pact of friendship with the Moon-Rakers, Chicken-Fanciers and Allied Knob Makers of Dorset. Their memory is forever honoured by the names of prominent streets in many of our fine local market towns:


ankh-morpork-street-signs-wincanton (Copy).jpg
 
There's also the all important economic aspect of treacle mining. The wealthier the treacle magnates become, the more the 'treacle' - ie, the wealth - tends to drip down onto the heads of the lower orders of society.

This is often referred to as the 'treacle down effect.'
 
Treacle Mine Road is of course one of the main thoroughfares in Terry Pratchett’s Ankh Morpork - but was it named after the one in its Somerset twin town, or vice versa?
 
Salmonellus said:
There's also the all important economic aspect of treacle mining. The wealthier the treacle magnates become, the more the 'treacle' - ie, the wealth - tends to drip down onto the heads of the lower orders of society.

This is often referred to as the 'treacle down effect.'
Click to expand...

:rollingw:
 
SummerLightning said:
Treacle Mine Road is of course one of the main thoroughfares in Terry Pratchett’s Ankh Morpork - but was it named after the one in its Somerset twin town, or vice versa?
Click to expand...

I fear the answer is lost in the mists of time and (meta)fictional narratives, alas Sir Terry is no longer with us to confirm the origins.
 
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