page_title: Treacle mining
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Treacle mining / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Hematite micaceous 中文: 赤鐵礦 雲母片狀
context_page_description: Treacle mining is the fictitious mining of treacle in a raw form similar to coal. The subject purports to be serious but is an attempt to test credulity. Thick black treacle makes the deception plausible. The topic has been a joke in British humour since the mid-19th century.
context_section_description: 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.
  Another explanation is that "treacle" meant 'a medicine', derived from the appearance of the Greek derivative 'theriacal' meaning medicinal (Greek theriake "curative", "antidote"), so the various healing wells around Britain were 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.
  In Devon, on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, UK, the remains of mines that produced micaceous hematite, used as 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.
caption: Micaceous hematite, a possible source for some treacle mine stories.
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