Friday evening, on a very quiet, dark and sultry foreshore, the river finally gave me what I've been waiting 15 years for... a medieval pewter pilgrim badge. Thomas a Becket, c.14th century and the only hand that's touched it in almost 700 years is mine
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Lara Maiklem FSA - The London Mudlark
@LondonMudlark
Found in the Thames by mudlark Lara Maiklem, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and award-winning author of bestseller ‘Mudlarking’ bit.ly/MudlarkingPB
Lara Maiklem FSA - The London Mudlark’s Tweets
Found by eye on Thursday and balanced on a VERY cold finger. It's a tarnished silver penny, probably 14th or 15th century. I'm not sure who the king is, to be honest they all look the same to me, but I'll post a picture once it's cleaned up and I've had a go at identifying him.
This is the the passage that leads to one of the oldest remaining set of stairs on the river, Wapping Old Stairs. These passageways are time tunnels, unchanged for centuries; dark, cold and windy, musty and damp with river air, they smell and feel like the past.
#mudlarking
I’ve seen some weird stuff come out of the mud, but this is one of the best. Found by a friend a couple of weeks ago, it’s carved from jade and could be quite old. A returning sailor having second thoughts about the souvenir he brought back from China? #mudlarking #mudlark
I LIVE IN HOPE, an anthem for our time engraved on the inside of a silver 16th century posey ring that I found on the Thames foreshore.
#mudlarking
My top find last week has to be this little broken pocket sundial, dating from the late 1500s to early 1600s. It’s a rare find, but incredibly the second one I’ve found on the foreshore, the first was about 10 years ago. They are both made of ivory, probably in Nuremburg, Germany
Picked up from the #Thames foreshore a couple of days ago. I think it's a medieval cloak pin, but it has been reported to the Museum of London, so we will find out more soon. What a great way to end the year! #LondonMudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking #bloomsburybooks #liverightpub
Thousands of years of London's history, all from one tide this weekend:
• An early Neolithic leaf-shaped arrow head
• A medieval button c.15th century
• A post medieval jetton (counting token) c.late 16th to early 17th century
• Handmade dress pins, c.1400-1800
I’m still shaking from yesterday’s find. It’s the top of a Roman glass ungent, which was used to contain the oils that were used in bath houses. Contacting the Museum of London today, In the meantime, enjoy...
#LondonMudlark #mudlark #mudlarking #bloomsburybooks #liverightpub
My Roman pot, as found a few weeks ago and all cleaned up. Just a small nick out of the back, but otherwise perfect. Unbelievable that this has been sitting in the river for almost 2,000 years.
#londonmudlark #mudlark #mudlarking #mudlarkingbook #bloomsburybooks #liverightpub
A while back, a few of us went Roman pot hunting on the river. The most patient one among us carefully collected over 50 shards, convinced they all came from the same vessel. He was right, it took him three days, but he pieced together this early Roman pot, possibly a storage jar
Roman coin! Found by eye on the Thames foreshore last week. I often wonder how they got there: flushed down a drain, dropped by accident or flicked into the river by a Roman citizen hoping for dome luck and to please the gods?
#Mudlarking #Larking #Mudlark
This perfect Roman pot had eroded out of the mud and was sitting on the surface waiting to be found.
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Replying to
Update, just been told it’s St Osmund, mid 15th and rarer than a Becket badge
It's hard not to lark as I walk, so last year during lockdown, when I couldn't get to the river, I collected seeds on my daily walks and scattered them over a bare patch in the garden. This is my lockdown garden - a jumble of foraged seeds and accidental visitors #Larking
Late 18th to early 19th century glass found in the thick gloopy mud of the river Thames by fellow mudlark and friend James. It never ceases to amaze me what the river chooses to preserve. #LondonMudlark #Mudlark #mudlarking #mudlarkingbook
I found this bead (c.2AD) hidden in a patch of shingle. Such beads were common throughout the Empire. It may have been worn by a woman as part of a string of beads, by a child on a simple leather thong, or even decorated the horse harness of a member of the Roman Cavalry
I had a museum for the things I brough home as a child: a dusty old chest of drawers in the barn next to the house. It had peeling veneer, ornate metal looped handles and three deep drawers, to which I assigned a different category of treasure. #mudlarking
An update on the sword I found yesterday. The handle is wood inlaid with copper alloy, cross bar is iron and blade is in good condition but broken. I’ve left the concretion on the blade and wrapped the whole thing in wet cloths. Now sealed in plastic bag and pics with
I found this crotal bell a while back.The 'pea' inside had survived and I was the first person in 400 years to hear it rattle, I had actually heard history. In my mind I saw a horse, pulling a heavy wooden cart through London's smelly narrow
#LondonMudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking
Just before the world shut down, I was invited by Paul Buck, former curator of Horology to go behind the scenes to see this incredible Thames foreshore find. It’s an early watch, dating from around 1650, that was found with its cover, chain and key. #mudlarking
This morning the foreshore was covered in sh*t. I’ve never seen it so bad. It wasn’t central London, where we’re told it happens because the old sewers can’t cope, it was in Greenwich. My apologies but I think everyone should see this and @officialthameswater should be ashamed
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A couple of weeks ago I found a pocket sundial on the Thames foreshore. It's a rare find, but I’ve found one before, which is ivory and dated to the late 16th - 17th c. I assumed this was also ivory, until I cleaned it up and realised it's made of wood.
#Mudlarking #Mudlark
One of the strangest things I've seen come off the Thames was found last year on the Wapping foreshore by a friend. It was half buried in the mud and he thought he'd found a bottle... until he pulled it out! Its jade, probably from China and likely to be 18th-19th c.
#Mudlarking
This is the Roman pot I found a few weeks ago, except according to experts it’s not a Roman pot...
it’s IRON AGE!
(And yes it has been recorded)
#londonmudlark #mudlark #mudlarking #mudlarkingbook #bloomsburybooks
This is a small selection of the coins and tokens I've found on the river over the years. I didn't find any of them with a metal detector and I don't dig or scrape away the surface either. I search eyes only, which is a far less destructive and meditative way of saving history
A special Mother's Day post for all exasperated mothers fed up with replacing lost jumpers, shoes, gloves, etc. This shoe was lost by a child around 500 years ago and was so well preserved by the Thames mud that I could still make out the soft impression of little toes inside.
My heart leapt when I saw the word ‘Alwayes’ inside the ring I picked up on Friday. It’s a silver posey ring (c.16th century TBC) given as a token of love and affection and cut off in rage and pain – what did he do to her to make her that determined to get it off her finger!
My late Iron Age pot, as found a couple of years ago and all cleaned up. Just a small nick out of the back, but otherwise perfect. Unbelievable that it had been sitting in the river for over 2,000 years.
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
The best portrait of Elizabeth I've ever found, and it's on quite a rare coin too, a three farthings coin, worth three quarters of a penny. They were only struck between between 1561 and 1582, this one is dated 1561
(I don’t use a metal detector)
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#mudlarking #mudlark
Not the most flattering picture, but a very happy one. The moment we found a complete Roman pot on the river last week. Still reeling from the fact this two thousand year old pot was rolling around on the foreshore
#londonmudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking #Mudlarkingbook
Happy Halloween Mudlarks! I got the shock of my life when I saw this glass eye a while back, like Old Father Thames himself staring back at me from the mud. Read more about the history of glass eyes on my FB and Insta pages today #londonmudlark #mudlark #mudlarking #halloween2019
Posted with kind permission of fellow mudlark Christine Fernbank, who made this stained glass window out of glass she found on the Thames in Central London and the Estuary. She’s used bottle bottoms, wine glass bases & stems, & bits of cut glass. simply stunning. #mudlarking
I found this human skull on the Thames foreshore this week. It’s been reported to the police and the Museum Of London. Read more about it on my Facebook and Instagram pages #londonmudlark #mudlark #mudlarking #mudlarkingbook #bloomsburybooks #liverightpub
16th c silver posey ring with 'I LIVE IN HOPE' engraved on the inside. It's large and I've always thought it originally belonged to a man, maybe a sailor or river worker, and it slipped off his cold wet finger one winter morning. Or perhaps it's story is more tragic #Mudlarking
Handmade pins. All of them are over 200 years old, some of them could be more than 600, and still as sharp as the day they were made. Everyone used them, from princesses to paupers for swaddling, clothes, and death shrouds. If the humble pin could talk, what tales it would tell.
This is my first false eye, found about six months ago on the #Thames foreshore. I wonder who lost it? Did it fall from a corpse or was it washed down a drain. Read more about it on my Instagram page London.Mudlark
#LondonMudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking #halloween #bloomsburybooks
Horselydown Stairs in Bermondsey provides one of my favourite riverside views and it hasn’t changed since Tower Bridge was built in 1886. Can you see the little mudlarks being ‘spoken to’ by the copper in the old picture?
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A handful of history: thimbles. One for each finger and more. The oldest is the 14th century beehive thimble on my ring finger, you can just see the tiny heart engraved at the bottom of the 17th century thimble on my index finger and the thinble on my thumb is c.15th/16th century
I found this c.16th century sword on the Thames foreshore over a year ago and took it straight to the Museum of London. I know its rough age, that it's broken and the handle is made from wood inlaid with twisted brass wire, but please tell me more!
#Mudlarking
My best find from Monday. It looks like a stick, but it's actually a Roman hairpin made of bone. I've found quite a few of these, always broken, but this is almost complete and the longest one I have.
#Mudlarking #Mudlark #Larking
Fresh off the foreshore, I’ve just found this lovely long 18th century clay pipe.
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On cold rainy Monday morning, 550 years after it left pinned to the cloak of a medieval pilgrim, the pewter badge of St Osmund that I found on the Thames foreshore is finally back
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
I collect handles from the foreshore, which might sound a bit strange until you think about a handle. It’s the most intimate bit of a pot, the part that was touched time and time again by countless hands. Here’s some of my favourites: medieval to 19th century
#Mudlarking #larking
I'm 50 years old today!
Beyond thankful to have made it this far and can't wait to see where life's great adventure takes me next 😊
#mudlarking
It's fair to say that Seaham on the North East coast is the sea glass capital of the UK. There is so much sea glass there because of the bottle works that was founded in 1853 and made up to 20,000 hand-blown bottles every day.
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
These are are common finds on a particular stretch of the foreshore in central London and they’ve been appearing for years. They can look like tiny planets and are often mistaken for marbles or game pieces.
The Ukrainian flag was officially adopted for the first time in 1918. It was outlawed by the Soviet Union and restored on 28 January 1992. My heart is with the people of Ukraine as they fight to keep their flag flying.
#Mudlarking #Mudlark #Larking
#Ukrania
I'm Henry the Eighth I am, I am!
This made getting up at 4.00am for the early tide this morning well worth it. Found eyes only, a silver Henry VIII sovereign penny. More to come when I've done my reading about it.
#Mudlarking #Larking #Mudlark
To mark Burns Night here are four Scottish related finds: 2 clay pipes celebrating the union of Scotland and England; a ‘hard head’ (1559) from the reign of Mary Queen of Scots; and a Charles II Scottish Turner 1663-8, all on top of my family tartan
Alba gu brath!
I looked up today and saw an unmistakable shape passing on the ebb tide. This was the 3rd soul I’ve seen taken by the river. We are living in difficult times, check on friends, call family, speak to someone if you need to.
The river gives and the river takes away, RIP friend.
Bone dice from the foreshore, including the one I found two weeks ago (second left). They date circa Roman to 19th century, but dice are hard to date precisely.
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#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
I almost left this behind on the foreshore, thinking it was just another nail head, but the second time I picked it up I saw a little lion face looking back at me. It's cast in copper alloy and I think it might be a Roman mount/stud. What do you think?
#Mudlarking #Mudlark
An 'indented' or 'folded' beaker Roman beaker that's been lying in the mud for almost 2,000 years. A magical moment from a couple of years ago.
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That magic moment you pick it up and for a moment time stands perfectly still. Found today, a beautifully carved bone (knife?). Possibly medieval. I’m a very happy mudlark tonight 😊
#londonmudlark #mudlark #mudlarking
More news about the skull I found earlier this year. The police have confirmed it is c.300 y/o which suggests a victim of the prison hulks. I’m working on getting more testing maybe a facial reconstruction. More on my FB and Insta pages #londonmudlark #mudlark #Mudlarking
Sometimes the river sends me a message. Forlorn from Old English forloren (past participle of forlēosan “to lose”. In Dutch it’s verloren, German is also verloren, and Swedish it’s förlorad.
This single word quite accurately sums up river at certain points along its course.
A few more treasures from my visit to Seaham on the North East coast. Seaham is the UK’s sea glass capital thanks to the glassworks that tipped its waste into the sea over 100 years ago. It’s long gone now, but sea-worn treasures like this milk glass still wash up on the beaches.
The prehistoric worked flint I found today is so fine and thin it’s almost transparent. It took some incredible skill to make and truly is a thing of beauty. It’s not something I’ve ever found before, Mesolithic or Palaeolithic?
#mudlarking #Mudlark #Larking
My trip to Seaham yielded over 50 colours, types and shades. The glass is from the Londonderry Bottle Works that disposed of waste glass into the sea over 100 years ago. The North Sea smoothed it into colourful jewels that it offers back on each tide.
#mudlarking #mudlark
Until I got this recorded by my Finds Liaison Officer on I thought it was a 16th or 17th century book clasp, but it’s much rarer than that. Turns out its a buckle plate from the 8th or 9th century and it came all the way to London from Ireland.
#mudlarking
My first mudlark of 2022 gave me a tiny Charles I halfpenny, little more than a fish scale of silver, that slipped from a purse and fluttered into the mud 400 years ago. Easy to lose and not worth a great deal back then, it wouldn’t have been enough to get you across the river
The figure of Bonus Eventus (Good Outcome) on a Roman ring intaglio that I found among the shingle on the Thames foreshore. I reckon we could all do with some Bonus Eventus right now
#mudlarking #mudlark
We ditched the old £ shillings and pence 50 years ago to the day. Here’s some of the predecimal coins (and tokens) I’ve found on the foreshore (no detector needed 😉)
#mudlarking
I've found hundred of raw garnets on the Thames, so far at four different locations. Some have been quite big, but none as large as the whopper I found last week. They are not native, so how did they end up in the Thames?
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The Victorian teapot I found on the Thames foreshore last week has now started a new life as a bird house in my garden (complete with handy drainage spout).
#mudlarking
"I had a museum for the things I brough home as a child: a dusty old chest of drawers...’ (Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames)
Now I've grown up, so has my cabinet of curiosities
#LondonMudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking
This is the Tudor child’s shoe I found on the Thames foreshore. Now it’s been properly conserved by I want to make sure it continues to educate and fascinate and I have great things planned for the shoe!
#LondonMudlark #mudlarking #mudlark
A man in a dusty cloak and worn shoes is making his way through the dense crowds that fill the narrow road passing over London Bridge. He has just returned from a pilgrimage and leans heavily on the stout wooden stick that has seen him all the way to Salisbury,
#mudlarking
I considered glueing this Estuary-found 19th century teacup together, but doesn't it deserve more? Kintsugi, where objects are repaired with gold or silver and the breakage becomes part of its history and beauty, will hopefully be the perfect solution...
#Mudlark #Mudlarking
Another freshly found Roman pot, well done James, from a likely Roman kiln site. A few more years or even months and the tides would have taken their toll
All the pots will or have been reported and recorded
#mudlark #mudlarking #londonmudlark
A spot of streetlarking. Two late 18th century cannons on a London street. They were once street bollards so it’s unusual to see both ends… read on 1/4
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
I keep and collect the bone buttons I find on the foreshore. They come in all hues of soft honey brown and sometimes they were dyed black with natural vegetable dye There's nothing rare or historically mind blowing about them, they're just nice and tactile, and very ordinary.
GOLD!
Just found, eyes only, on the Thames foreshore - looks to be a 16th century spangle. Il write more when I’ve recovered 😆
#Mudlark #mudlarking #Larking
Found a few weeks ago on the Estuary where years ago London’s waste was taken and dumped.I have no idea why it’s so small, but it's got some lovely iridescence from being in the water a while. Cheers!
#Mudlarking
A group of us went Roman pot hunting on the Thames. The most patient one among us carefully collected over 50 shards and pieced together a large, near complete, early Roman (c.100 AD) pot. What an achievement!
#Londonmudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking #Mudlarkingbook
A George I farthing from the year 1722, when Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Royal Mint, Daniel Defoe published Moll Flanders and Scottish heroine Flora MacDonald was born.
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#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
Roman coin - today’s star find. Can anyone clever help me ID the emperor?
#mudlarking
I really don’t like having my photo taken and spent too many months avoiding poor old Tom, but when we did finally meet up on the foreshore my fear of photography vanished. Tom Harrison you’re a master at your craft, the lighting in this picture is incredible.
#mudlarking
I don’t know what’s in this Thames-found torpedo bottle, but it’s well over 100 years old and I'm not uncorking it to find out!
#mudlarking
I’m finding a lot of these on the foreshore at the moment. If you use this kind of mask please dispose of them carefully. They aren’t biodegradable and the ear loops pose a particular threat to birds that get entangled in them.
Better still, switch to washable cotton face masks!
18th century pearlware mustard pot, found on the Thames foreshore. GR is probably George III. Mustard is the perfect accompaniment to roast beef, which was so popular by the 18th century the French started calling Englishmen "rosbifs". Happy Sunday lunch!
#mudlarking
The perfect little pottery shard scene. I love it when this happens.
#LondonMudlark #Mudlarking #Mudlark
I’m coming out as a monocle wearer. It’s incredibly useful in restaurants and museums and while my wife hates it, I love it. Does anyone else monocle?
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
Replying to
My great grandmother was very proud of her rectangular cows...
Just found by eye on the Thames foreshore. Roman coin, beautiful condition. I'm a very happy Mudlark #londonmudlark
A handful of big silver coins, all found eyes only over many years, just sitting on the surface of the Thames foreshore. They date from the reign of Mary I (c.1557) to Victoria (1898).
#mudlarking #Mudlark #Larking
Time to scare the kids with the eye again - if I push it onto my eyelid and frown I can make it stick and it scares the pants off them!
It gave me a bit of a shock too when I saw it peering back at me from the mud, but on closer inspection it is a work of art
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Today I have been Mudlarking with lovely and delightful Jennifer Saunders and yes, we had a wonderful time 😊
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
Good news. The object I found just before Christmas has been confirmed as a medieval socketed arrow head (c.14th century), designed to punch through plate armour on the battlefield.
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#Mudlarking #Mudlark #Larking
UPDATE
For those of you following the beautiful bone object, found on the foreshore a few days ago, we have news from the Museum of London. It is thought to be late medieval, possibly a parchment pricier.I'll keep you updated as I hear more.
#LondonMudlark #Mudlark #Mudlarking
Here's the gold lace tag (aglet) I found a few years ago on the Thames foreshore. It's part of a 16th century mini hoard that's eroding slowly. Hundreds of small pieces have been found and is collecting as much as they can. I have donated mine to the collection
What an emotional week. Emergency amputation after the wind blew the door shut on my beautiful boy’s tail. He’s a very sore and unhappy puss cat and I wish I knew how to make him feel better.
James finally found his first complete Roman pot today, a beautiful little thumb beaker. We’re hopefully going back to this secret spot soon, it’s got to be my turn next!
#londonmudlark #mudlarking #mudlark #mudlarkingbook #mudlarkbook #bloomsburybooks #liverightpub
Just found. Medieval silver penny, cut in half to make half a penny. Sometimes they cut them into four to make small change, since a penny was worth the silver it was made from. A perfect end to a very fruitful lark today 😊
#mudlarking #mudlark #larking
Here it is, as found, my 15th century St Osmund pilgrim badge. Found last week on the river Thames
#mudlarking #mudlark #londonmudlark
