I look at the 16th century when treacle had quite another meaning...
associated with syrups used for medicinal purposes ... whence...
'In Bresse a citie belonging to the venetians two Pedlers fall at oddes
about ye goodnesse of their treacle & an open chalenge was made betwene them
for ye triall of ye same in ye chief marcate of yt citie hereupon one of
them being come to ye place appointed held up a venemous rote in one hand &
a tode in ye other bidding his adversary to chose & eate ye one as he would
the other to be short ye adverse party chose ye rote & devoured it in
presens of ye people sending after it great store of treacle but in vaine
sith he fell downe dead sone after before them all / ye survivour in the
meane time quartered his tode also & swallowed her downe eche quarter after
other but he was saved by his treacle neverthelesse fearing lest ye
magistrate would have attached him for ye slaughter of his fellow he getteth
him awaie and saveth himself by flight'
attach = arrest
but I'd be very interested to know if any medicinal claims were made for the
mines, hoax or no hoax
regards
John A W Lock
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Oldham" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 2:28 PM
Subject: Treacle Mines
Treacle Mines
It was a pleasant surprise to find in the current edition of The Field an
article on Treacle Mines. Suspecting a hoax, I read on and was amazed to
find that treacle mines exist in 12 counties across England: Cumbria, Devon,
Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Norfolk,
Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire and that there are no fewer than 19 treacle
mines in Oxfordshire alone.
The author goes onto describe the geological origin of the naturally
occurring treacle, which is similar to that of coal, beds rich in the fossil
remains of sugar cane trapped deep underground in rock formations of the
Jurassic period.
The article describes a treacle well at Burton Bradstock in Dorset and a
visit to Dunchideock's treacle mine, near Exeter. The latter is illustrated
with 3 photos.
Ref:
Edelsten, David 2006 Digging deep for Treacle. The Field, April pp 67-70.
Cheers - Tony Oldham
Duncavin
1 Riverside Mews
CARDIGAN
SA43 1DH
United Kingdom
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/speleo/guides.html
http://www.showcaves.com
http://www.mike.munro.cwc.net/mining/tony_o/tonyo_hp.htm
http://www.showcaves.com/foreign/Big/F003-003.jpg
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