Although most Londoners never really notice it, the Thames is still a strongly tidal river as it flows through the city.

Most Londoners don’t  need to notice it, of course. The Thames is regulated these days, safely channelled between concrete banks, and we spend our lives well above the level of the water. (In medieval and early modern London, on the other hand,the Thames was bordered by muddy flats and shingly beaches for much of its length.)

The Thames has a tidal drop of 25 feet – really quite a massive drop.  So look down at low water, and you’ll see huge expanses of mud, liberally spattered with supermarket trolleys, old tyres, and other detritus.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? But actually it’s quite intriguing, because as well as modern rubbish you can find all kinds of old rubbish. The Society of Mudlarks is a bunch of metal detectorists who have found  everything from medieval pewter toys to pilgrims’ badges made of lead and belt buckles from before the Norman Conquest.

I took a wander over a bit of the foreshore recently. It’s an interesting way to see London – you’re way down, below the level of the road, and everything looks different from down there.

As for finds,  I didn’t get to find a Saxon sword or a Roman coin, but I did see lots of little pieces of Willow Pattern pottery, a couple of stoppers from old style fizzy pop bottles,  and some pieces of the stem of long clay churchwarden pipes. A handful of rubbish to be sure – but rubbish with a past.

It can be dangerous – you need to know your tides. And don’t tread anywhere that looks too soft to bear your weight. Watch out for the sandflies, too – wear long trousers in summer or you’ll end up bitten.

If you want to  become a proper mudlark, you’ll need a permit from the Port of London (day permits cost £7.50 but the yearly licences are a much better buy).     That entitles you to dig in the mud, though you don’t get to keep anything interesting that you find – it has to be taken to the Museum of London.  Still, you’re not doing it for the money, are you?

Picture credit – Melanie Major  on Flickr

Post from: The London Traveler