Always feels decadent walking under Thames structures normally inaccessible during high tide, the crunch of centuries of detritus - tiles, animal bones, pottery & gravel underfoot. I’m often being asked this so, just to clarify, the #ThamesForeshore is an open public space though there are restrictions & dangers. Always check tide times/exits. Some areas are protected SAM (Scheduled Ancient Monuments) & it’s illegal to #mudlark remove artefacts without a PLA permit, new ones currently suspended.

From the #ThamesForeshore last week, a small sherd of Roman pottery lost to the river when Britain was a province of the Roman Empire, and Londinium was its major city. This is colour-coated ware, likely to be Nene Valley (modern day Peterborough) & introduced by migrant potters from the Lower Rhineland in the mid 2nd century, later made in Colchester too. As ever, so many questions; who last held this sophisticated example of Roman tableware in their trembling hands? #mudlark #mudlarking

My office last week #LambethBridge #ThamesForeshore #Mudlark #Mudlarking #HappyPlace

A day late with this but happy birthday to the current Southwark Bridge. Stunning from the vantage point of the #ThamesForeshore while #mudlarking at night. This version of the bridge was designed by architect Ernest George and opened on 6 June 1921. It has the least traffic of any of London’s bridges.

I haven’t been out #mudlarking as much as I’d like recently but it’s nearly the end of May so here are my #bestnine recent finds from the #ThamesForeshore
• clay pipe bowl with partial stem, 1700s
• blue paste bead, likely to have once been a Georgian gent’s collar stud #bling
• 18thC pewter button with triangle design, possibly Masonic link
• Victorian wooden hat block
• worked flint, either waste flake or used as a tool, Meso/Neolithic
• Dutch bale seal
• 17th/18thC trade beads
• Saxon bead?

It’s #FindsFriday and this is one of my favourites. I don’t find lots of old jewellery on the #ThamesForeshore so it was a joy to spot this peach of a discovery poking out of river mud. One of a pair of Georgian earrings, made from copper alloy this would have sparkled like gold when new. Designed in the popular Rococo style of the time, a fashion that originated in France in the early 1700s and was characterised by flamboyant, curved asymmetric ornamentation and use of natural motifs #Mudlark

Bit of a mystery Thames find that I literally have no idea what it is. Made of brass, quite decorative yet it could be part of a large clock, I guess, or maybe attached to a piece of furniture. The age is probably Victorian/Edwardian era. Will clean up beautifully when I get my act together #Mudlark #Mudlarking #ThamesMystery #ThamesForeshore

Chuffed to have been given my mudlarking badge. Thank you @xonboy (not on Mastodon, I don’t think) for sending me this - a real honour & will wear it with pride #mudlark #mudlarking #ThamesForeshore

It’s nearly the Easter weekend, hang on in there. Please enjoy some birds, butterflies and flaars from my trips to the #ThamesForeshore Cranes, love birds, a startled woodpecker, hand painted trees, tulip tiles and 17th Century Delft wall tile grasses #Mudlark #SpringIsHere #Easter

Beautiful cobalt blue bead found #mudlarking on the #ThamesForeshore on Tuesday, its vibrant va-va-voom colour making it stand out against the beige, brown & greys of the stones & gravel on the river. Initially thought be a pressed Czech glass bead from the 1920s/1930s, I’ve since been told by a bead expert it’s much older than that, likely to be Georgian-era bling, perhaps a collar stud or part of a ring. I haven’t found much this week so this was a real tonic #mudlark

‘In these shoes? I don’t think so.’

Not all Thames finds are old
#Mudlark #Mudlarking #ThamesForeshore #KirstyMacColl

Today’s mystery find from a gorgeous day on the Thames Foreshore. Grand reveal later 🤫 #Mudlark #Mudlarking #ThamesForeshore #Mystery

The tide going out revealing ancient timbers and revetments. Ever changing, constant new builds up on the Embankment but the foreshore remains a portal into the past.
#ThamesNoir #Mudlark #ThamesForeshore