Editing Treacle mining (section)

==Locations==
The village of [[Sabden]] in [[Lancashire]] cultivated a considerable body of folklore about local treacle mining in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Lancashire mill town traditions|page=9|author=William Reginald Mitchell|publisher=Dalesman|year=1977|isbn=0852064144}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Lancashire nicknames and sayings|page=63|author=Bob Dobson|publisher=Dalesman|year=1973|isbn=0852061773}}</ref> The local newspaper helped foster the myth, publishing numerous stories about the fictitious mines.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys|page=871|author1=Jennifer Westwood  |author2=Jacqueline Simpson |name-list-style=amp |publisher=Penguin Books|year=2005|isbn=0141021039}}</ref>

The paper mills around [[Maidstone]] in Kent were known as "The [[Tovil]] Treacle Mines"<ref>Tovil pronounced to rhyme with "[[Bovril]]" – not "Toeville")</ref> by locals, after the area where one of the mills owned by Albert E. Reed<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reed-elsevier.com/index.cfm?articleid=113|title=Reed Elsevier – Product highlight|publisher=[[Reed Elsevier]]|access-date=31 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041212122102/http://www.reed-elsevier.com/index.cfm?articleid=113|archive-date=12 December 2004}}</ref> was situated. The company helped the myth with a float in Maidstone carnival with a "treacle mine" theme.

One suggested source of the story in this area is a rumour that the paper industry was threatened during the [[Second World War]] because there was no imported [[timber]]. Fermentation of straw was tried, creating a sticky goo. There were attempts to make paper from 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 named, as Straw Mill Hill. To produce pulp, the straw was cooked in hot alkali. After separation of the fibre, the remaining liquid looked like black treacle. Upper Tovil Mill closed in the 1980s and the site was used for a housing estate.

[[Tudeley]] and [[Frittenden]] in Kent are also said to have had treacle mines. A tank wagon on the [[Kent and East Sussex Railway]] was painted in sham "Frittenden Treacle Mines" livery in 2009.<ref name=Tank>{{cite web|url=https://www.kesr.org.uk/visitor-information/about-kesr/stations/15-stock/wagons/128-132|title=Nº. 132 – Esso 14 ton Tank Wagon Nº. 2338|publisher=Kent & East Sussex Railway|access-date=23 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218134931/https://www.kesr.org.uk/visitor-information/about-kesr/stations/15-stock/wagons/128-132|archive-date=18 December 2013}}</ref>

Suggestions of a treacle mine in [[Buxted]] were published by the "Friends of Horwich".<ref>[http://www.treacleminer.com/docs/buxtedtreacle.htm Buxted Treacle Mine] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717093624/http://www.treacleminer.com/docs/buxtedtreacle.htm |date=17 July 2011 }}</ref>

[[Tadley]] treacle mines had a local hotel named after them and a Tadley Treacle Fair is held. Legend says the name derives from using treacle tins to store money because banks could not be trusted. The tins were buried around the village. Criminals mined for tins.

[[Hemel Hempstead]] in [[Hertfordshire]] has a legend of having a treacle mine and a local nickname since around [[World War I]] was "Treacle Bumstead".<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Boy from Treacle Bumstead: A Country Lad's Journey from Reform School to National Service|last = Sears|first = Ken|publisher = Simon & Schuster Ltd|year = 2013|isbn = 978-1471113574}}</ref> [[Wareside]], also in Hertfordshire, has long had its own "treacle mines". When asked "where have you been?", it was often a popular answer in and around [[Ware, Hertfordshire|Ware]], to say "down the treacle mines!"

Treacle mines have also been claimed in the twin villages [[Trimley St. Martin]] and [[Trimley St. Mary]] (Suffolk), [[Wem]] ([[Shropshire]]), [[Talskiddy]], [[Bisham]], [[Nuneaton]], [[Sway, Hampshire|Sway]] ([[Hampshire]]), [[West Ginge|Ginge]] ([[Oxfordshire]]), [[Chobham]] ([[Surrey]]), [[Tongham]], [[Tadley]], [[Skidby]], [[Ditchford railway station|Ditchford]], [[Crick, Northamptonshire|Crick]] ([[Northamptonshire]]), [[Debdale]] ([[Leicestershire]]), [[Dunchideock]] and many other locations across [[Somerset]] and [[Devon]],<ref>{{cite book
| last = Barber
| first = Chips
| title = Around & About the Haldon Hills
| publisher = Obelisk Publications
| year = 1982
| pages = 95–97
| isbn = 0-946651-14-0}}</ref> in several northern towns including [[Natland]] and [[Baggrow]] in [[Cumbria]] and [[Pudsey]] in Yorkshire,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treacleminer.com/Mines/Pudsey.html|title=Pudsey|website=All Things Treacle|access-date=17 November 2017}}</ref> in [[Croftamie]], Scotland, and in the fictional village of Wymsey.