Yellowbelly (Copthorne)

A Yellowbelly is a native-born resident of Copthorne, West Sussex, England. The origin of this nickname is uncertain, but a number of explanations have been offered. These include:


 * The men of Copthorne used to smelt iron and make charcoal in the woods around the village, stripped to the waist, and their bellies turned yellow in the smoke;
 * Copthorne Rovers, a local soccer club, was known as the Yellow Bellies, and the nickname was then applied to the whole community;
 * Bellies became yellow while crawling through fields of buttercups to poach game;
 * In a local iron quarry, the men became covered in yellow dust;
 * The gypsies on the common placed a gold sovereign on the belly buttons of their new-born children;
 * The early Saxons living in this area used yellow ochre, found in the local clay, to colour the walls of their homes;
 * An outsider wishing to marry a Copthorne girl had to cross their prospective bride's belly with gold sovereigns;
 * The old villagers wore gold strapped to their bellies
 * A scurrilous story was spread by the residents of the neighbouring village of Crawley Down about urination habits in Copthorne; and
 * Local smugglers would run away if they thought they were likely to be caught.

The Crooked Brook Beer Company Limited, a brewery in Copthorne, was known until 2014 as the Yellowbelly Brewery.