Treacle Mine Road
Treacle Mine Road is one of the main thoroughfares of Morpork, extending Widdershins from the foot of the Misbegot Bridge to Easy Street, where it becomes Cheap Street. It defines the rimward boundary of the greater Shades quarter; at its back, the city core.
Treacle Mine Road was once exactly that: the treacle mine was a major industry until it was displaced by the lower-cost wells of Quirm (see the legend of The Fifth Elephant for a possible explanation of how the treacle came to be a mineral deposit). The road lent its name to the short-lived People's Republic of Treacle Mine Road during the Glorious Revolution, when it was the front line of the rebel area.
Toward the Misbegot Bridge end is the hall of the Seamstresses' Guild on the corner of Sheer Street. Several blocks from the bridge is the newly-rebuilt Treacle Mine Road Watch House (at the junction of Cable Street and Silver Street), where Samuel Vimes worked until the building was burned down by a dragon in Guards! Guards!.
The street hosts two pubs, the Misbegotten, near to Misbegot Bridge, and the Widespread Arms, which is, possibly not coincidentally, immediately opposite the Seamstresses' Guild. This pub is therefore ideal for Immediately Before, Immediately Afterwards, or perhaps both.
Before becoming resident at the Opera House, Agnes Nitt lodged at no. 4 Treacle Mine Road.
Places located on Treacle Mine Road, starting from the bridge, according to the City of Ankh-Morpork map, the digital app:
- Deadman’s Corner (where Treacle Mine Road meets Misbegot Bridge)
- The Widespread Arms (in Deadman’s Corner lot, across from the Seamstresses' Guild)
- Sheer Sports suppliers of ping-pong, bats, balls, shuttlecocks and trampolines
- Lemual Boot Apothecaries
- The Helmet and Shield pub
- The Treacle Miner Sticky Head pub
- The Treacle Miners hostelry pub
- Treacle Mine Road Watch House (rebuilt in Night Watch)
- Gimlet’s Hole Food Delicatessen (corner of Cable Street)
- Treacle Mine Road Post Office
- The Pink PussyCat Club
- The Pig & Trotter diner
- Kroll Thighbiter’s Rat Pie & Chips ethnic food
- Miss Battye dressmakers and darning (at Easy Street / The Scours, where Treacle Mine Road becomes Cheap Street
Hex once recorded an error message saying +++Error At Address: 14, Treacle Mine Road, Ankh-Morpork+++. Speculation has ensued as to why exactly this address. It is possible that 14 Treacle Mine Road may be the address of the cellar, rented by Dibbler and used as a storeroom, where he first found the City Eggs that later mutated into wire shopping trolleys in Reaper Man.
Roundworld Resonances
Were the treacle mines inspired by the soup wells in The Clangers?