Reaper Man

15

And on p. 176/155 we learn that One-Man-Bucket was run over by a cart on Treacle Street. Treacle is another word for molasses, and most people will be familiar with the concept of “a hole in the ground from which you get molasses” through Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Tea Party.

Terry jokes: “Treacle mining is a lost British tradition. There used to be treacle mines in Bisham (near Marlow, on the Thames) and in several northern towns, I believe. But the natural treacle was too sharp and coarse for modern tastes and the industry was finally killed off by the bulk import of cheap white sugar in the last century.”

“I know the Bisham treacle was very crudely melted into moulds and sold in slabs. Shops used to smash the slabs up and sell the solid treacle as sweets. It’s quite a different stuff to the crude ‘golden syrup’ treacle still occasionally sold.”