Mudlarking

 

Don't recall how I discovered mudlarking, but once I watched a few of Nicola White's mudlarking adventures walking the foreshore of the River Thames in London, I was hooked. London has been there for 400 years and as it sites where the tide sloshes the shores twice daily, Nicola (and many others) find all sorts of treasures, from old to new from valuable to silly.

Google defines mudlarking as "the activity of scavenging the muddy foreshore of a river, most famously the River Thames, for historical objects that have been lost or discarded over centuries.

Hers is not the only YouTube website for this type of adventure. Briefly there was Below the Plains, where the fellow would (with permission) dig into old outhouse pits and find hundreds of old bottles and other artifacts. 

And there are other good places to watch while eating lunch. SiFinds is one; Adventure Archaeology is another (they walk the banks of rivers in the US south); Bottle Fever is one. And if your interest is piqued, I'm sure you'll find others. 

Remember: these mudlarkers of any ilk are finding the artifacts from our ancestors' lives. 

Mudlarking On The Mississippi

 Ever heard the term mudlarking? If you’ve talked very much with me, you know that mudlarking, or beach-walking-looking-for-treasures is one of my favorite activities. I’ve been a beachcomber all my life and just recently learned about mudlarking. Nicola White has a YouTube channel showing her walking along the Thames foreshore in London at low tide and finding wonderful and interesting things, some even dating back to Roman times. I’m hooked on her posts.

 So of course on my cruise I looked for opportunities to walk along the Mississippi and see what I might find. The river is at a 40-year low which means lots of beach was exposed that hasn’t been in 40 years. When our ship was moored just below the St. Louis Arch I couldn't wait to get off and go mudlarking! I did pick up some interesting glass and other stuff and did create a window-art piece with it.... here are my finds in the raw (laid out on a daily bulletin on the ship): 

 It was here that I found my biggest find!  The bottom of a ceramic or clay beer bottle dating to the 1850s from a brewery in Wisconsin! I didn’t keep it but gave it to Aaron, our history presenter on the ship, and he documented it for me. But it was such fun to find something that old and hold it in my hand.

What else do beachcombers and mudlarkers find? Anything that’s been tossed into the river or ocean or lost into the same. One can find coins, toys, jewelry, nails, tools, broken glass, pieces of dishes, etc. The best thing about Nicola’s presentations (on YouTube, remember) is that if there is an inscription on her find, she does the history of that piece and perhaps how it came to be in the Thames mud. 

Have you time in your life for a new hobby? Come mudlark with me!

Mudlarking Along the Thames in London

 

If you've never heard the term mudlark or mudlarking, then you're in for a fun surprise.

London has hundreds of years of history and bits and pieces of that history are lodged in the mud along the Thames River running right through the city. I've been watching several of the mudlarking videos on YouTube and the things they find are so fascinating and history unearthed and right in their hands! 

Besides just pulling things out of the muck, sand and rocks, they look for words on the artifacts and then research the history of that company or tavern or whatever. So one can learn English/London history while enjoying "luck in the muck," as mudlarker Si-Finds says.  He or Nicola White are my two favs to watch. 

Give it a looksee on YouTube. Bet you'll be hooked as I've been. 

P.S. There is even a new museum in London containing many of these finds; if the item is over 300 years old, the finder is expected/encouraged to turn it in to the museum.