Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames

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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: Firstly a tendency to somewhat absurd flights of fancy (an example being when she holds up some Tudor glass and wonders whether Henry 8th looked through it when pondering Anne Boleyn's future).

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. 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. Yes, there are fascinating pieces of the past all along the Thames positions at low tide. Some of the coin, pins, bottles, medals, tools or cooking items found, those long descriptions were true evidence of their times and how they were used. But STILL- it just got too tedious to me. And all her personal relationship information and genealogy for many past ancestors just so monotonous. 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.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. It’s surprising just how many people go Mudlarking on the banks of the Thames, searching for finds, as every low tide reveals new treasures from past ages. 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. Those run by the Thames Discovery Programme, for example, offer you the opportunity to explore the foreshore under the guidance of an experienced archaeologist at a reasonable price – and without the need for a permit. If you try to go mudlarking in rivers outside of London, the riverbeds might be more difficult to walk on. For example, the riverbeds in Newcastle, Bristol and Cardiff are just dense mud which you could sink into and drown.

Lara speaks also of moment of the find. The care and preservation of artefacts. The best light and intensity of the search and how without that moments scan, hesitation, acquired skills objects might forever remain undiscovered or be shattered by one’s next step. The exhibition, running until Saturday, October 30, is part of the Cathedral’s River Season. This series features a number of mudlarking tours and relevant talks, with visitors able to bring along their own finds to be identified to the celebration on the final day. 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. So wonderfully crafted and written, it covers the range of this peculiar pastime along the Thames from West to East. That is from Tidal Head to Estuary. Recommended reading for amateur and professional historians and genealogists; archaeologists; aquaphiles; environmentalists; museum lovers and the curious.The term “mudlarking” was originally used in the 19th century, and late 18th century. It described the activity of poor people in London who would scour the foreshore of the river Thames at low tide looking for items they could sell.

What makes this book so special is Lara’s writing and insights. She has that wonderful ability to let her mind wander, way beyond the present, and we follow in her imagination the provenance of her finds. Making up scenarios for how the objects came to be in the river; they have been preserved by the mud and spotted on the foreshore. I found myself feeling that although Mudlarking would perhaps not be for me, I recognised its charms and if I was to don a pair of wellies it would be to spend sometime watching Lara at work and sharing at firsthand the all consuming love she has for this activity.Armed with this information on just how much this obsession controls the author's life, I formed the opinion she'd make an unreliable friend and frustrating partner but is no doubt a highly experienced mudlarker. More advanced ‘mudlark’ permits can also be obtained, however, these are only available to the members of the Society of Thames Mudlarks.

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”.Firstly, whereas riverbeds in locations like Cardiff, Bristol and Newcastle can be dangerous due to the dense mud – which you can sink into and drown in, since it goes above your head – when the tide recedes on the Thames, it’s a reasonably gravelly foreshore, which is safer to walk on. When you apply for a standard permit you need to upload a passport style photograph, and allow a minimum of 4 weeks for processing. Apparently Tower Beach was a great success and in 1935 approximately 100,000 people came to 'holiday' beside the Thames. What a sight this must have been. I was amazed at the sheer amount of things that appear out of the mud....a mud that acts as a preservative to tobacco pipes, coins, buttons and shoes, old weapons, bones and bottles, and so much more.....but this book isn’t just an account of what author Lara Maiklem has found, it’s also a truly brilliant history lesson, as she explores the provenance of her discoveries, and imagines the lives of those people who had used and lost the artefacts she uncovers. It was a fairly dangerous occupation then, with broken glass, raw sewage and even the corpses of animals or humans known to wash up.