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Did the miners come to a sticky end? The Tovil treacle mines near Maidstone were a Victorian creation and even had mythical postcards produced. Pete ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Northover" <[log in to unmask]> To: "Pete Mason" <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 2:49 PM Subject: Re: Treacle Mines >I too have had my doubts about the veracity of some reports of treacle >mines and wells and attributed the one in Burton Bradstock to our rector's >sense of humour.(I worship in the next parish for which the rector is also >responsible). > > From the Bride Valley News for August 2005 I have extracted the follwoing: > > Treacle mine. > > All is set. We have permission, thanks to an Elizabethan charter > discovered for us by John Packenham-Walsh. We have the mine glistening > with a crude syrupy substance, and we have begun to assemble the bits of > kit we need to process the material. In the interests of keeping our > neighbours sweet (and if they will ever forgive this terrible pun) I am at > pains to point out that the amount of equipment involved is very small. > Apparently miniaturization has come to the treacle industry as it has to > every other sphere of life, and what once would have squeezed into a large > building can now be housed in a small room of the kind that we have set > into the tunnel itself. One of these rooms will house the small amount of > equipment, and the other is the site of the treacle intrusion itself. > > The Burton Bradstock fete is on Thursday the 4th August, when parts of > the treacle mine will be open for viewing. I have to say parts, because > part of the roof of the tunnel is now held up with props, in part > necessary because of the geological pressure of the treacle. Anyway, parts > will be on view, and there will be a range of treacle based products on > sale. Be there, be sticky. Bob Thorn > > On the other hand, we are on the Jurassic Coast. > > Yours, > Peter > > -- > Dr Peter Northover, > Materials Science-Based Archaeology Group, > Department of Materials, University of Oxford > Tel +44 (0)1865 283721; Fax +44 (0)1865 841943 Mobile +44 (0)7785 501745 > e-mail [log in to unmask] >