Editing Treacle mining (section)

==Origins==

One possible origin of the joke is from 1853 when 8,000 [[British Army]] soldiers were camped on [[Chobham Common]]. The camp included storehouses containing barrels. When the soldiers left for the [[Crimean War]] and the site was dismantled, they buried barrels to avoid having to remove them. Some of the barrels contained treacle and [[Chobham]] villagers who discovered and removed them were called "treacle miners" as a joke. Local folklore about treacle mining was extended into history back to [[Roman Britain]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Alice Eats Wonderland|page=53|author1=August Imholtz  |author2=Alison Tannenbaum |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Applewood Books|year=2009|isbn=978-1429091060}}</ref>

Another explanation is that the word ''treacle'' meant "a medicine", derived from the appearance of the Greek derivative ''[[theriac]]al'' meaning medicinal (Greek ''theriake'' "curative", "antidote"), leading to the various healing wells around Britain being 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.<ref>{{Cite book |author1       = Cooper, Quentin
 |author2       = Sullivan, Paul
 |name-list-style = amp
 |title         = Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem
 |page          = 285
 |publisher     = Bloomsbury
 |year          = 1994
 |isbn          = 0-7475-1807-6
 |url-access    = registration
 |url           = https://archive.org/details/maypolesmartyrsm0000coop
}}</ref>

[[File:Hematite micaceous.jpg|thumb|Micaceous hematite, a possible source for some treacle mine stories]]

In Devon, on the eastern edge of [[Dartmoor]], the remains of mines that produced [[Hematite|micaceous hematite]], used as [[pounce (calligraphy)|pounce]] to dust early ink to prevent smearing, are known locally as "treacle mines" since they show a glistening black residue that looks like treacle.