Ok here's an odd one for Brits.

@MissTaken There's a thread on the local newspaper asking how this 'legend' came about.
A lot of tosh about 'Treacle Mines' (although nobody's sure where [i]that[/i] came from) and it's 'likeness' to the sound of Steeple Bumstead which is a village in Essex. But beyond that there's no obvious link.

Unless of course folk from the Essex area moved into Hemel Hempstead after the creation of the 'New town' and came up with a similar name for Hemel.

@Picklebobble2 Only about 2 miles from SB is Helions Bumpstead 😂. I have an Aunt in Brighton who used to talk about the Sussex village of Patcham where reputedly there’s a Treacle Mine