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What you can find Mudlarking on the Thames Foreshore in London
Source: http://www.messynessychic.com/2016/1...ore-in-london/
A few years ago, a worldly friend who’s always in the know posted something to her Facebook wall that went something like this: Mudlarking on the Thames is the best way to spend a Sunday morning in London. She had me at “mudlarking”—I had no clue what it was. It seemed like something curiously obscure. And who doesn’t love to dive right into a good adventure?
I immediately googled mudlarking and uncovered this amazing world of history and treasures waiting to be found on the Thames foreshore. Throughout early modern times, the Thames was essentially a massive garbage dump where people and its industries threw away their unwanted items. On a somewhat more positive note, it was also a place for tossing coins to make a wish or ask for good fortune.
But before getting into what can be discovered today, let us go back to the late 18th and 19th centuries where the original mudlarks endured difficult conditions and searched for anything of value to make a living.
Mudlarks were generally impoverished youth between the ages of eight and 15 or seniors. Most mudlarks were male though there were some girls and women amongst them. They scavenged the Thames shores for anything they could find at low tide.
Conditions back then were squalid since excrement and waste would come ashore from raw sewage—not to mention the corpses of humans and animals like cats and dogs.
Coal, rope and old iron and copper nails were some of their finds. Mudlarks sold their loot to rag shops and could expect to earn about three pence per day (relatively speaking, £0.40 today).
Let’s fast-forward to the 1900s. “1904 was the last time it [mudlarking] was used as a profession. The hobby starts to occur in the late 1970s,” said a group of curators from the Museum of London.
And thanks to the digital age, one of the most popular corners on the Internet for discussions and various finds of current-day mudlarks is the London Mudlark Facebook community. Photos of fascinating finds will make your inner archaeologist drool: old clay pipes, coins, pins, needles, colorful pottery shards, thimbles, combs, and wig curlers are just a few of the items people have uncovered on the foreshore.
Since the Thames’ mud is anaerobic (without oxygen), most of these items are preserved as if they were tossed into its waters a few days ago.
The head of the London Mudlark Facebook community, Lara Maiklem, described some of her most cherished discoveries: “Every find is unique and I’m constantly aware that I’m probably the first person to touch it in centuries, since it was lost or thrown away.
I’ve found gold and I’ve found some beautiful coins, but my favourite finds are the personal ones – a 17th century pewter bodkin with the initials ‘SE’ scratched into it, a 16th century posey ring with the words ‘I LIVE IN HOPE’ engraved on the inside, and a Roman gambling token with the Roman number 10 (V) scratched on the back. Moments captured in time are also special – pottery with the potter’s finger prints baked into the clay and Medieval and Roman floor and roof tiles with animal prints across them.”
And what if Lara’s home was on fire? What would she rescue from her personal mudlarking collection? “The piece I’d save though is my complete Medieval shoe, pulled from the mud in several pieces and currently being conserved at the University of Cardiff. Shoes are so personal and you can still see indents from the heel and toes of this one’s original Tudor owner. It would be a perfect fit for my 4 year-old-son, which gives it that extra personal link to the past.”
Amongst mudlarks, the unforgettable face of a Bartmann Jug rates up there as a coveted, notable find. Coins, too. But for Lara, one of the most prolific and knowledgeable mudlarkers in London, there is one thing she’s still seeking but hasn’t yet found.
“A complete Medieval pilgrim badge still eludes me. I arrived five minutes after a fellow mudlark found one on my ‘patch’ and was even standing right next to someone when he pulled a beautiful example out of the mud, but all I’ve ever found are broken bits and pieces.
I always say mudlarking is 10% practice, 10% knowing where to look, 10% knowing what to look for and 60% luck. I just need more luck,” she confessed.
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