Squeeze Guts Alley
For a person of large girth, there is every possibility they'll definitely get their guts squeezed passing through the narrow ope, Squeeze Guts Alley, which runs between Duke Street and St Mary's Street in Truro. The ope is barely wide enough for one person to walk through and meeting anyone coming in the opposite direction certainly means squeezing your guts to pass by.
How, when and why it came by its name isn't known but the ope goes back many years and can be seen, unnamed, on a map of 1842. It can only be assumed "squeeze guts" was how everyone referred to this ope and the name stuck. Truro was both a market town and a stannary town and the opes gave workers and business people the ability to get about in haste to see to their business.
Squeeze Guts Alley would have been the shortcut for the principal inn, The Bull, in the town during the 17th century. It also provided quick access across the town to get to the quayside and the packet ships.
Certainly for me when I worked in Truro the opes provided me quick access from one street to street avoiding the crowds and saving precious minutes at lunchtime.
Squeeze Guts Alley
For a person of large girth, there is every possibility they'll definitely get their guts squeezed passing through the narrow ope, Squeeze Guts Alley, which runs between Duke Street and St Mary's Street in Truro. The ope is barely wide enough for one person to walk through and meeting anyone coming in the opposite direction certainly means squeezing your guts to pass by.
How, when and why it came by its name isn't known but the ope goes back many years and can be seen, unnamed, on a map of 1842. It can only be assumed "squeeze guts" was how everyone referred to this ope and the name stuck. Truro was both a market town and a stannary town and the opes gave workers and business people the ability to get about in haste to see to their business.
Squeeze Guts Alley would have been the shortcut for the principal inn, The Bull, in the town during the 17th century. It also provided quick access across the town to get to the quayside and the packet ships.
Certainly for me when I worked in Truro the opes provided me quick access from one street to street avoiding the crowds and saving precious minutes at lunchtime.