Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames

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The Thames Explorer Trust offers guided tours along the Thames foreshore covering Greenwich, Wapping, Rotherhithe, and the area around the Millennium Bridge. You don’t need a permit to join, and the experienced staff will help you find and identify items of archaeological interest. The Thames foreshore contains slippery stones, and sharp objects. Make sure you wear good shoes to protect your feet, and prevent you from slipping. You immediately feel comfortable with this author in her hobby, obsession and delight for Mudlarking. My mother had had a museum of her own when she was a child and would delight me with the story of the cat skull, the pride of her collection. She had found it by the side of the road in a state of partial decomposition and rather than wait for the maggots to do their job and risk losing it to another collector, she took it home and boiled it in her mother’s best milk pan to remove the remaining flesh. I loved that story, but bedtime cocoa at my grandmother’s house never tasted quite the same after I’d heard it.”

Another thing that irked me was her belief that a portion of the shore had been taken away from her. When telling the reader about nets of stones placed against the river wall in Greenwich in an attempt to prevent erosion, she says: More advanced ‘mudlark’ permits can also be obtained, however, these are only available to the members of the Society of Thames Mudlarks. This is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time. I am amazed it is Lara’s first move to becoming a published author. I’m sure it was a hard slog and kept her from those hours of solitude and peace beside her beloved river. Her efforts are well received and she can be so proud of her disciplined writing and research. Her approach sustained my interest throughout the journey along the river and I would recommend this book without reservation to all. I feel my knowledge of the history of London has been deepened and enlarged by her comments on these objects, the riverside locations and ultimately the Thames itself.Mudlarking’, the practice of scavenging through river mud for lost items of value or historical significance. A mudlark permits allows you to dig to a depth of 1.2m (3 feet 11 inches), but no tools other than hand tools can be used. It also gives you access to additional areas that a standard permit doesn’t cover. Walking along the foreshore of the Thames in central London is not everyone’s idea of a hobby – it can be cold, dirty and just as muddy as mudlarking suggests. Historically, being a mudlark was not a desirable station in life. The terms came about in the Georgian and Victorian periods when the Thames was one of the major routes to transport goods into the city. At this time, the banks of the river would have swarmed with the melancholy figures of mudlarks, mostly poor women and children who would be “up with the larks” to work whenever the river ran low.

In Mudlarking, Lara Maiklem takes us down the river from Teddington to the Estuary and the open sea in a combination of memoir, archaeology, science and history in a narrative non-fiction style of writing. She tells us her preferred method of searching the river bed and banks is to kneel with her 'nose barely inches from the foreshore' where she completely immerses herself in the task. It’s worth knowing that, per the Treasure Act 1996, all finders of gold and silver objects, or groups of coins from the same finds, over 300 years old, have a legal obligation to report them. The report should be made to the local coroner within 14 days of discovery. Time was when mudlarking was the reserve of the destitute, but these days a mudlark permit is needed, for which you have to belong to the Society of Mudlarks (founded in the 1970s), and to be eligible to join the society you need to have already held a standard permit and reported your findings to the Museum of London for two years. Even then, you may not be given membership because the society “maintains a deliberate air of mystery and exclusivity”. Author Lara Maiklem is a proud London mudlark and shares her finds in Mudlarking - Lost and Found on the River Thames. First, some interesting facts about the Thames from the book. Thirdly, walking on the foreshore of the Thames is dangerous. Permit holders are warned of the hazards of going down to the river bank, and advised to go in groups.Since November 2016, the Port of London Authority (PLA) have ruled that you are not permitted to search the tidal Thames foreshore in any way without a permit. This includes any kind of beachcombing, scraping and digging, or using a metal detector. In fact, the educational side, of sharing the stories behind their found items, is important to many members of the community. With wit and an open writing style, she opens up her world in a way that you can feel her passion, share her enthusiasm and marvel in her imaginations.

You'd think I'd find some of this Tudor item piece or James I pirate cob, or Roman scabbard shield minutia of most elemental or restoring detail surrounded grabbing my imagination. Or even deep appreciation. But I just couldn't at all. So I sped read the last 1/3rd. I've had a passing interest in mudlarking and toshing that I think I can attribute to Joan Aiken's Midnight Is A Place, which I read when I was about ten. But I honestly thought it was something that happened in, like, the Victorian era because having seen the state of the Thames (and the Yarra, tbh), I can't really imagine anyone voluntarily searching for lost treasures in the tidal mud flats of the riverbank. But turns out there's a thriving community! The type of mud under the river and fact that the area’s been home to civilisations for so long also means that there’s a lot to be found there. MUDLARKS: Treasures from the Thames by Jason Sandy is a great book if you are new to mudlarking. It shows the findings of 80 different mudlarks, and contains lots of photographs and information about the history of London. London is the best place in the UK to go mudlarking. This is because, at low tide the foreshore is mostly gravel, and easy to walk on. Also, the mud at the bottom of the Thames is anaerobic, so it preserves objects well. You are also more likely to discover something in London, than in other rivers in the UK.A Richard III boar badge likely worn to the king’s coronation by an attendee – also discovered by Jason in the Thames – is now used to teach schoolchildren about artefacts at the King Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester. Unearthed is a BBC Travel series that searches the world for newly discovered archaeological wonders that few people have ever seen. Thank you for reading my post on mudlarking on the Thames. Some items mudlarks have found on the river Thames include clay pipes, roof tiles, Roman coins, oyster shells, animal bones, pieces of coal, clay pipe stems, glass beads, a piece of Roman pottery, clay tobacco pipes, Venetian glass chevron beads, and every day objects like thimbles. The practice of combing exposed riverbeds for lost treasures, termed ‘mudlarking’, is becoming increasingly popular thanks to social media. I haven't ever seen a book such as this before and that makes this all the more of a unique experience. I must admit that despite having been to London a few times and enjoyed myself I find big cities rather exhausting given I am a country girl at heart. That said, they offer a prime hunting ground for items that could give valuable insight into the social and urban history of an area populated for centuries and founded by the Romans in 43 AD.