I VALLEY PAST AND FINALLY r


to remember it. Unfortunately, during my recent


I


I In this picture from Anne's book, every member of her immediate family including sisters Mary I Joan and Barbara and her parents Tom and Edith Watson, are pictured enjoyino their new found winter pastime of 1947.


research into local health spas, having discovered something memorable, I forgot not only the details but also where I had written them down! Certainly "treacle" and


"Sabden" featured, so the obvious first stop was the legend of Sabden treacle miners. When the mines first became a


T


I snowy seasons and deep I freezes of years gone by.


he recent prolonged wintery weather has led Ribble Valley author I Anne Musson to recall the


In her book "My Beloved


I Downham: A Childhood I Memory" - which was featured I in last month's Valley


I magazine - she recalls the I deep freeze of 1947. She remembers roads from


I were not able to attend school I and huge snowdrifts were piled up against the school


I Twiston and Rimington being blocked for weeks. Children


I walls. But with every cloud - even


I a snowy one - comes a silver I lining as sledging became a


I favourite pastime. Anne


The Horse Shoe Inn


5 Bawdlands


Clitheroe, Lancs BB7 2LA


01200 424391


Coach & Horses


2 0 Main S t '


B o lto n B y Bow la n d C lith e roe BB 7 4NW


01200 447202 Three


Millstones Inn Waddington Rd Clitheroe Lancs BB7 4SX


01200 443339 Anne Musson


remembers fondly that the steep slope at Top Green behind the Assheton Arms, Downham, provided an eKhilarating venue for the fearless. Speaking of the winter of


2009/10 Mrs Musson says: "The severe weather we are experiencing at the mome;it is bringing back memories of times past, first 1963 but especially 1947 when I was eight-years-old. "What a magic time that


was for we village children in Downham. Both the Worston and Twiston roads were blocked for six weeks. Because of the drifting snow the small lanes quickly disappeared, thus allowing one to walk over the tops of the hedgerows. Sledging was pursued with relish, we kids were out ail day long, even sledging after dark with a few street iights to guide us. We were fighting fit! Whole families turned out to enjoy the fun."


part of local culture is unknown, but they probably emerged in the same way as the Higham Balloon Juice Company, a spoof floated by the regulars of the village's Four Alls Inn in the 1930s. When balance sheets were published, the demand for shares was worldwide and the proceeds were devoted to Burnley Victoria Hospital. However, it was the treacle


miners created by the Dewhurst family that annually attracted up to 30,000 tourists for 14 years in the 1980s and 90s and brought the Sabden international recognition.


BOGGARTS Bill Dewhurst introduced


Sabden's parkin weavers, black pudding benders and treacle eating boggarts to the world's media. Other local villages were also celebrated in names like the heroic Willy Wiswell and masterful Silas Mitton, while the policeman. Constable Nick - of Pendle, naturally - was even presented to Margaret Thatcher! Such was the popularity of the


treacle miners that they initiated a cottage industry producing furry toys, enjoyed recognition at the Cannes Film Festival and eventually earned a BAFTA nomination for the London Weekend Television series which


celebrated their lives on the small screen. Sadly, vandalism and the


Angels


Fleet Street Lane


Ribchester PR3 3ZA


01254 820212


Sobar la King St


Clitheroe, Lancs BB7 2EN


01200 444114 I eXYnTf‘?ebma®rv‘’8th^ Advertiser and Times in the /


Teletubbies - hopefully one was not committed by the other - were blamed for the premature demise of these local celebrities in 1998, so treacle's link with good health seems tenuous, to say the least. This was certainly the case with


the great treacle disaster of 1919 in Boston, USA, where 21 people were drowned in "a roaring wall of tieath" amidst a million dollars' ■ worth of damage, when a massive tank containing 2,500,000 gallons of molasses simply exploded in the extreme heat of the day.


'The earth heaved under their


fset and they heard a sound of I'ipping and tearing - snippets of steel bolts (like a machine gun) - followed by a booming roar as the


ck or,, by Gerald Searle


T may be just my age or a touch of mental decay, but I simply have to write something down


r / Fun Crossword


■ THIS crossword is just for fun - no prizes are given. The solution wili be in next month's issue of The Valley.


A wooliy and wintry Wellsprings (S)


bottom of the giant molasses tank split wide open and a geyser of yellowish-brown fluid spouted into the sky, followed by a tidal wave of molasses," said a report. But perhaps the Bible may give


us a clue - or one version at least. In Miles Coverdale's edition of


the Great Bible in 1539, in Jeremiah 8.22, where the Authorised Version has "balm", the famous "Treacle Bible" uses "triacle", because the word’s Greek origin refers to a medicinal salve or antidote to poison. Indeed, in 1804 the Medical


Journal recommends treacle as "well known for curing venereal disease, rheumatism, scurvey and long-standing sores" - although not required in Sabden, of course! In fact, the current meaning,


uncrystallised syrup, emerged only in the late 17th Century, possibly by association with "sugaring the pill" - mixing medicine with sugar syrup to make it more palatable. In fact, while countless treacle


mines have supposedly been identified across Britain, many would be better described as treacle wells! Not that we should be surprised.


Ken Dodd's Diddymen thrived on them as weli as the jam butty mines and, as Professor Michael Bentine said of the Bumblies, "They like very sweet things to eat and they always have plenty of treacle on their food, from treacle wells around the countryside." In a more literary setting, Lewis


Carroll wrote from his own experience in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", when the


Dormouse described three girls learning to draw at the bottom of a treacle well. This is believed to refer to the


oldest surviving treacle well at St Margaret’s Church at Binsey, near Oxford, first recorded in the 8th Century. Its water was believed to have the medicinal properties to cure leprosy, epilepsy and eye problems, although the legend behind it is not particularly sweet! St Frideswide was forced from


her convent by the lustful intent of King Aelfgar, but as he pursued her through the forest he was suddenly struck blind. She prayed to St Margaret, who unveiled a well, from which the water restored his sight - and cooled his ardour!


HOLYWELL In celebration Frideswide is


reputed to have built a chapel by the well, although this should not be confused with Binsey's treacle mines, which were simply shallow ponds, in summer covered with thick yellow slime! Therefore, for "treacle well" we


can read "holy well" and locally there are many examples. The holy well on the moors near Bolton is located unsurprisingly at Halliwell, whilst in the centre of Blackburn, All Hallows Well was popular with mediaeval pilgrims, again for its power of restoring sight, and finally. Mile End Row in Revidge • was just one of many in local towns previously called Treacle Row. However, the most famous are


at Tockholes and Sabden, both villages also associated with


treacle mining. The site of Hollinshead Hall, Tockholes, was first occupied in the 13th Century and in 1877 historian William Abram wrote: "In the garden is an antique well, enclosing a spring of water of curative properties to which, of yore, the name of 'Holy Weir was given." It is perhaps no coincidence that


Sabden - or Sapeden - was also first officially identified in the same period, in 1296. The word "triacle" was


absorbed into English between 1150 and 1500 and that is probably when the term "treacle well" became established. It is also probably no


coincidence that the rough ground on and around the Nick of Pendle is often claimed to be concrete evidence of the old mine shafts that supported Sabden's eariy treacle mining industry, because the spring that fed the treacle well is believed to be under - you guessed it - the Wellsprings! And so the pursuit of my


memory and the health spa link has been successful - 1 knew there was something curative about treacle! However, if you think that


laughter is still the best medicine and you are an internet user, then may I recommend a local website to be savoured. On www.oneguyfrombarlick.


co.uk, type in "treacle mining" on the Forums page, sample the sharp wit, flights of fancy and sheer lunacy of the many contributors and everything will be just - treacle well!


SOLUTION TO JANUARY'S CROSSWORD Across: 6 Sceptic; 7 Hands: 9 Lee; 10


Perimeter; 12 Show of hands: 15 Golf courses: 17 Giving out; 19 Bob; 21 Beach; 22 Tedious. Down: 1 Screw; 2 Spa; 3 Bite; 4 Pacemaker;


5 Addenda; 8 Differ; 11 Chaffinch: 13 Wrongs; 14 Conifer; 16 Bogus; 18 Uses; 20 Tip.


For information and news online


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seven days a week -visit our website


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the Valley 19


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