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mudlarking

Mudlarking 46 - Paw Patrol and a curious tool

It was lunchtime and I headed to the Custom House Lower Stairs.

A Paw Patrol toy washed up on the shore. I thought about the child that might have dropped it and felt sad for them. The toy seemed very buoyant, so could have travelled far along the Thames.

I found what I thought was a strange tool at the time but now think it's probably just a shell that got stuck to rusting metal.

I found a red swirly sherd, with a similar pattern to another piece I found previously.

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open house

Open House 2025

This year I visited:

The Royal Bell
11 Elstree Hill
The Bottle Factory
Thames Distillers (at the Bottle Factory)
London Coffee Factory (at the Bottle Factory)
St Michael Cornhill
Mansion House
Maughan Library at King’s College London

Internet Infrastructure of London walking tour
Hermitage Community Moorings (with sea shanties being sung)
Sailing Barge Will (at Hermitage Community Moorings)
Kinetic sculptures at Trinity Buoy Wharf
SS Robin at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Western Riverside Waste Authority

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open house

Open House

I enjoy the randomness of Open House.

One minute I'm eating rhubarb cake in a neighbour's self build and looking at old photos of how my street used to look, and the next I'm by the river and amongst boats, tapping my feet as people sing sea shanties, and climbing down a ladder on a sailing barge, and then I'm learning about how to become lord mayor and how they clean the chandeliers, then I'm listening to birds chirping amongst piles of rubbish, and then I'm watching kinetic sculptures in the rain and there's a dolphin riding a penny farthing, and then I'm on the helm of a Victorian steam ship pretending to steer it, and then I'm standing next to bags of coffee and holding a handful of coffee beans that have yet to be roasted, and then I'm standing next to "Thumbelina", a machine used for distilling gin, and then I'm peering at manhole covers and staring at stone carvings of telephones.

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mudlarking

Mudlarking 45 - No pile, nor purple rocks

The tide was quite up, but I was just passing on my way to a playground that made sounds, so I headed to the foreshore anyway.

A dog ran past me to the gate and the owner apologised. I then saw the dog enjoying a swim in the river.

"Are you mudlarking?" a man asked from the top of the steps.

"I am!" I told him.

He told me he’d found a purple rock and held it up, but I couldn't see it very well.

The Pile had gone. Previously at Blackfriars, piled up in one corner were stones and sherds and glass and bones, and everything else. You could stand there on the pile of bones as everyone rushed by to get their trains. But now instead there was just sand.

It was nice to stand by the lapping waves of the Thames again.

I didn't find any purple rocks, but I picked up another flint (which I then cracked by pouring boiling water on it - I do need to find better methods of cleaning things!), a brown and white sherd, one of the collection of square black tiles, and a few pieces of glass.

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

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mudlarking

Mudlarking 44

I had not intended to go mudlarking, as it was Open House weekend. So many places to see! A packed itinerary with boats, sea shanties, kinetic sculptures and Internet infrastructure. But I popped down to the foreshore briefly twice, at Alderman Stairs and New Crane Stairs, as they were near to the Hermitage Community Moorings, which I visited.

I liked the small silver plaques at the moorings which talked about the waves and the river, and how Wapping was like an island.

Alderman Stairs gave me one piece of Metropolitan Slipware. I was slightly disappointed I hadn’t found any last time I went mudlarking, but this piece was sat right next to the stairs, waiting for me.

At New Crane Stairs in Wapping, the tide was coming in, and as I stepped down from the boulder onto the beach, a woman told me that she wasn’t going for a swim today. I laughed.

I picked up just two sherds this time. I liked the green bubbly pattern.

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

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mudlarking

Mudlarking 43

I went to a mudlarking exhibition in the Guildhall Amphitheatre last week and then to a mudlarking artists panel. I spoke to a few of the mudlarks at the exhibition, who told me to keep on looking and where to look for garnets. I was also inspired by the artists, both on the panel and in the audience.

After that, I was eager to get back on the foreshore, but due to being busy last weekend and then the tube strike, I hadn't been to the foreshore for a week. I felt certain I'd find something amazing after seeing all the finds on the tables at the Guildhall though.

I headed to Custom House and down to the foreshore, and the tide had started to come in. A person from New Zealand asked me what I’d found. She told me how she had been mudlarking previously and even took some pipes back to New Zealand, but then after that, she read a book on mudlarking and learnt you need a permit to mudlark.

I did not find a lot that day, but I did find a nice chunk of flint, some pretty pottery sherds, a shiny piece of glass, and a tessera.

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)