Blog Posts

Tideline art's basic guide to mudlarking

21/5/2015

It is no secret that one of my great passions in life is searching through the anaerobic mud of the River Thames to find little pieces of history from past lives. It all started when I used to go beachcombing in my native Cornwall. When I moved to London over 15 years ago, I naturally gravitated towards the River Thames. I can safely say that I have never been down to the foreshore and come back empty handed. There is always something washed up with the tide to inspire the imagination and set off a flurry of research - whether it's a piece of pottery, or a once treasured piece of Victorian jewellery.

I have been lucky and have found some wonderful things in the mud, and whilst "rivercombing" the shore. You can see some of our finds here in an online book which we made and you can also check out the finds section of this website.

It is not just the older finds that I am fascinated by. I also enjoy finding lost toys that live by the River, and of course, the occasional message in a bottle.

People often ask for information about mudlarking, and so I've compiled a little guide with the more commonly asked questions. If I've missed anything out, please do get in touch.

Tideline Art’s Basic Guide to Mudlarking

The River Thames is a huge archaeological site when the tide is out, and there are pieces of history wherever you look along the foreshore.

What is mudlarking? The word derives from the poor Victorian children who searched for little treasures in the mud of the River Thames to sell for a few pennies. Mudlarks now are people who search the foreshore for pieces of history and evidence of past lives.

What do mudlarks find? Anything from animal bones and teeth to pieces of pottery, clay pipes, coins, buttons, bullets, jewellery…. See our finds on www.tidelinart.com

Do I Need a Licence? The basic rule is 'surface finds' are OK but if you disturb any part of the foreshore, even to look underneath a rock, you should have a licence. Scraping the Thames foreshore surface with any type of implement is considered digging. You can apply to the Port of London Authority (PLA) for a licence and they can give clear guidance on what you will be allowed to do and where. If you are just interested in history an 'eyes only' (no digging equipment) search is allowed everywhere without a licence.

Can I Keep Everything I Find? Any object found on the foreshore over 300 years old, or which could be of significant historical interest needs to be reported to the Museum of London via their portable antiquities scheme. By doing this, a picture of historical London can be built up.

Safety – Anyone going on the foreshore does so entirely at their own risk. Be sensible. Go in pairs. Be aware of your surroundings. The Thames foreshore can be a perilous place, with deep mud and a tidal range of over 7 metres. Steps can be very slippery. The tide comes in very quickly. Consult a tide timetable. Take a mobile phone. Check your exit points and wear suitable footwear.

Id like to have a go : A good way to start out and to find out where to go and how to go about it, is to go on guided walk. There are some links below of organisations which do this. Alternatively, take a walk on the foreshore in front of the Tate Modern on the South Bank, or near St Paul’s Cathedral on the North Bank

Useful Links

The Thames Discovery Programme - for guided walks http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/

The Thames Explorer Trust – for guided walks http://www.thames-explorer.org.uk/about/

The Port of London Authority - https://www.pla.co.uk/Environment/Metal-Detecting-and-Digging-on-the-Thames-Foreshore

Information on the Portable Antiquities Scheme https://finds.org.uk/

The Museum of London http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/

And remember, most of all, have fun!

1 Comment

the perils of plastic - fatal attraction

12/5/2015

1 Comment

There is a particular walk which we go on in Kent at least once every few months and it is wonderful in that it is so remote that you hardly ever see anyone. I love this, especially as I live in London and so spend quite enough time cheek to cheek with people I don't know, in the tube. It is a great place to find messages in bottles. Sadly though, the reason it is good for messages in bottles, is because it is absolutely littered with layers and layers of plastic waste; plastic bottles, bottle tops, lighters, toys, smartie lids.... all manner of plastic crap, which has made its way up the RiverThames, and comes to settle on the remote shores of Kent. Out of sight out of mind.

Toxic Waste lies along the banks of the River Thames

Each time we go there, it never fails to amaze me how much plastic waste is littered along the shoreline. The problem is - it does not rot. And the problem is also that it can be quite pleasing to the eye, and tempting to a hungry seabird. This comes with devastating consequences. I recently came across a startling article about what was found in the stomach of a young albatross. The impact that all these little plastic morsels have on marine wildlife is devastating.

Plastic waste found in the carcass of an Albatross chick

contents from the stomach of an Albatross

Of course it's slightly overwhelming when faced with the enormity of trying to clean up miles of shoreline - like the one I walk along in Kent, but if we each do our bit, and put our plastic waste in a recycling bin, then we can make a difference.

An overwhelming feast of plastic

Recently, I've been making a lot of pictures with pieces of plastic which is littering the banks of the River Thames. They look great and fun - but the reality is, and what we don't see, is the devastating effect that swallowing plastic has on our wildlife.

The Perils of Plastic

"When I see a rainbow, I think it’s fantastic
But sadly this rainbow is made out of plastic

And I don’t know if you’ve recently heard
About plastic like this that was found in a bird….

Unless they’ve developed unusual taste
For undigestible, dangerous waste…

They’ll suffer enormously, getting much thinner
Because of what they’ve scoffed for dinner

The recycling bin is where waste belongs
Not in a bird’s tummy - which is frankly quite wrong

And rainbows belong way up in the sky

So let’s kiss this plastic one a big goodbye

Think of the chick

Let’s not be mean

Please keep our beaches

Squeakily clean.

ironic sign on the Kent coastline amongst the litter

1 Comment

pIPE DREAMS

22/3/2015

5 Comments

The first thing that I remember having found whilst down on the Thames was a broken clay pipe. This, with the help of a bit of Mum's Fairy liquid was used to blow gigantic bubbles. Oh what larks!
Quite a considerable few years later the magic isn't lost, maybe a little bit repressed by the lure of the more exciting finds, but this weekend proved that the humble clay pipe was capable of bringing more than a smile to the face.
Blessed with a weekend of exceptionally low tides we set forth and found some of our most wonderful clay pipes.

Before I go into detail, a bit of the history of clay tobacco pipes might assist and perhaps whet your appetite.
"Tobacco drinking" as it was known, came to England following the discovery of North America, hence tobacco, and was widely popularised by Sir Walter Raleigh, or so the story goes, in about 1558.
The clay pipe itself was likely devised by the native North Americans, but nevertheless their manufacture here commenced shortly after to satisfy the insatiable demand of that new breed of "Tobacco drinkers".
The earliest written description was in 1573 where a pipe was described as "an instrument formed as a ladell" (sic). No illustrations exist, but it was flat in design and likely inefficient for smoking tobacco other than for ceremonial purposes.
By 1580 however, the pipe took on the more efficient & familiar form, with a barrel shaped bowl and a thick stem between 4 & 6 inches long, they were normally undecorated and had a relatively small bowl, like this early example (which is not fully intact);

Early pipe circa 1600 - known as a "fairy pipe" or even a "plague pipe" on account of how many were found in plague pits where the dead were hurriedly interred.

As a rough rule of thumb the smaller the pipe bowl is, the older the pipe is. The size of the bowl was relative to the cost of tobacco, as the price fell so the bowls got larger.
As the manufacturing process improved the stem became thinner, the quality of the finish massively so, thus the pipes became more ornate and were adapted for all sorts of commemorative occasions, advertising even.

Progress... The one on the right is early 17th century, the left pipe is a "fancy" decorated with the fouled anchor of the Royal Navy, and may have been styled so to commemorate a successful naval encounter or just to reinforce our love of the Navy in Victorian days. We found both of these side by side even though centuries separate them.

Fiolet St Omer pipe (1765 - 1921) - French can can dancer sitting on a commode)

Why are there so many of these pipes found along the Thames, or anywhere for that matter you may ask.
Clay pipes were very cheap. They were often given away with a pint of ale by savvy publicans. They would become blocked after a very few uses, they are easily broken, and were thus seen as disposable items. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it was "unlucky" to throw away an intact pipe, so the owners broke them deliberately (probably in an effort to bypass the blockage in all likelyhood). They were also in widespread use for over three hundred years, and it was not unusual for children or women to smoke them. This goes some way to explain the huge numbers of broken pipes that are found.
This post is not meant to be an exhaustive word wall history of the clay pipe, but rather a dip into their world. Here is a gallery of our better ones many of which were found this very weekend.

There are many websites that provide further reading about clay pipes and their identification. In particular, one of our favorites is http://www.dawnmist.org/pipdex.htm.
_
http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/claypipes/index.asp

We hope you've enjoyed reading about our clay pipes. I think you'll agree that they are far more interesting and pleasing to the eye, than modern day cigarette butts!

5 Comments

Love stories from the river thames this valentines day

14/2/2015

5 Comments

“TWENTY bridges from Tower to Kew -
Wanted to know what the River knew,
Twenty Bridges or twenty-two,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told:”
― Rudyard Kipling

Victorian heart pendant found in the mud of the River Thames

I have tried to work out what it is that keeps me going back, in all weathers, to prod around in the muddy foreshore of the River Thames. It is not as if I have ever found anything resembling treasure, or gold, or even remotely Roman (oh, apart from some Roman pottery, so yes, I did find something Roman - but not a Roman coin!). What I have found though are long lost possessions, faded and rusty, worn by the River, whose owners are probably long long gone. They are pieces of evidence of past lives. A tangible piece of history. It is that, that keeps me going back, and they make getting covered in mud and acquiring a stiff neck all very much worthwhile. These little pieces of history fascinate me and evoke stories in my imagination of Victorian ladies, children playing with lead toys and marbles, sailors and lightermen smoking clay pipes.....I can spend hours just imagining who last touched that object, who owned that button and who wore that glass bead that was once part of a necklace. Over the past few years I have found several tokens of love in the River Thames, and it is these I want to concentrate on now, as of course, it is Valentines Day, and so it seems appropriate. Below are just a few of the symbols of love I've found - and I think you'll agree, they all have their very own story - which we will never know in all probability.

Of course, you can't help wondering who wore these pieces of jewellery and how they ended up in the River? What is their love story? The bracelet below, engraved Peter and Lesley is a mystery too. Did Lesley drop it by accident, or was it hurled in the River after a break up by Peter? Where are they now?

Gold bracelet engraved "Peter and Lesley"

There are countless fragments of the Willow Plate design on the Thames foreshore - depicting the two lovers, who were turned into doves for daring to pursue their forbidden love! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_pattern

There are countless pieces of pottery in the River Thames depicting lovers and love stories, both happy and sad.

Here are some once loved toys clutching hearts, that somehow now find themselves lost and forlorn by the River!

And lastly, of course, there are many messages of love that have floated down the River Thames. I have written about some of them in my message in a bottle blog here on this site, but here a few.

words of love for Tandyman from his friends

words of love found in a message in a bottle - River Thames

Ryan and Shellon forever - declaration of love found in a bottle in the River Thames

So now I think I know one of the reasons why I keep coming back to the River to search the shores. It is so full of stories to think on. In what seems like a difficult world at the moment, with all manner of sad happenings going on - the River Thames that flows through the heart of our City here in London, has many love stories to tell. Sad stories or happy stories, the fact is, love is eternal.

I wish you much love in your lives.
Happy Valentines Day
X

little plastic heart found whilst urban beachcombing (streetcombing)

5 Comments

<<Previous

Forward>>