In chapter 7 of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Dormouse tells a story of Elsie, Lacie and Tillie living at the bottom of a well, which confuses Alice, who interrupts to ask.
Brimstone and Treacle | treacle | Treacle mining | Treacle Brown |
It consists of a cylinder made of a substance known as "roller composition" or simply "composition", a mixture of glue and sugar (in the form of molasses or treacle), with various additives such as glycerin depending on the particular recipe.
However, they have existed in local mythology for much longer and, along with the Treacle and Jam Butty Mines of Knotty Ash, had been referred to in the earlier act of another Liverpool comedian Arthur Askey.
By the 18th century carts had replaced many of the packhorses and were transporting many goods including, oil, hardware good, barrels of tar, hogsheads of treacle, glue from Manchester, lead and small grinding stones.
Pauline McLynn as Maggoty, a 'treacle fiend' who the Secret-Pasts meet in The Skint debtor's prison and has a habit of affectionately calling people birds' names, e.g. "my little songthrush"
The show was written by Brian (the writer of Dangermouse) and Johnathan Trueman and was based in a fictionalized version of the Northern English village of Sabden, in Pendle, where treacle is (allegedly) a natural resource extracted through mines.
Animaniacs characters Pinky and the Brain paid homage to the show by having a puppet show called "The Meany Show" starring Meany and Treacle (both voiced by Maurice LaMarche) in the episode "Puppet Rulers" where Pinky and the Brain tried to use the show and a cryogenic chamber in order gain loyal followers in the future which didn't go as planned.
In the Harry Potter series, Harry's favourite dessert is treacle tart, a dessert often found at the Hogwarts feasts.