Yellowbelly (Copthorne)

A yellowbelly is a native-born resident of Copthorne, West Sussex, England. The origin of this nickname is lost in history, but a number of explanations have been offered in "Copthorne - a story so far", the book written for the village's Millennium Celebrations, in the chapter by Joy Day entitled Traditions and Characters. These include:

* The Gypsies on the common traditionally placed a gold sovereign on the belly buttons of new-born children
* The early Saxons living in this area would use yellow ochre found in the local clay to colour the walls of their homes
* Bellies became yellow due to crawling through the fields of buttercups whilst poaching
* In a local iron quarry the men became covered in yellow dust
* Any outsider wishing to marry a Copthorne girl had to cross their prospective bride's belly with gold sovereigns
* Copthorne Rovers (football club) were known as Yellow Bellies, and it was from the footballers that the nickname came into being
* The old villagers wore gold strapped to their bellies
* There was also a slanderous story perpetuated by the residents of the neighbouring village Crawley Down who queried in which direction certain unmentionable lavatorial ablutions were carried out
* Because smugglers would run away (afraid) if they thought they were likely to be caught
* They used to smelt iron and make charcoal in the woods around Copthorne, they used to strip to the waist and their skins turned yellow in the smoke

ee also

* Yellowbelly (Lincolnshire)

External links

* [http://copthorne.org/history.html Copthorne Village history page]
* [http://football.mitoo.co.uk/ClubList.cfm?fmTeamID=48135&LeagueCode=MSUS2005 Copthorne Rovers Football Club]