Yellowbelly (Copthorne)
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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
