ghoti_mhic_uait

A sign on the gate at Gabriel’s Wharf warned that the foreshore was unsafe and to keep away, but I'd read elsewhere these weren't official signs and no-one knew what was more unsafe than usual about it.

I walked through the gate anyway and headed onwards, waiting for the tide low enough to get to the patch of foreshore outside the National Theatre.

While I was waiting I found what I thought was a coin, but things are deceptive on the foreshore and when I got it home, it had transformed into something else, although I don't know what.

A pair of tourists sat on the steps by the locked gate, chatting loudly.

In front of me on the waves were seagulls bobbing and I could hear the clink clink sound of boats, and the clatter of the waves against the pebbles. I felt happy to be there, by this river.

I found some large pieces of what were once pots of some kind. One with the letters, “ING” which was probably another Maling marmalade jar. One with “London” and some other indecipherable words, and one which probably once said “pottery” and “Derby”. That may have been for ink.

I found a lot with letters on! Numbers also: a thing that has “55 14” on it. A letter ‘T’, on a piece that was reddish with a cross. An ‘E. Letters that probably once spelt ‘England’.

These are all in the first picture:



In the second picture:

A cat bread sticker, looking particularly strange.

A wooden thing. Is it something carved and used by humans or just a bit of tree root that ended up in the Thames?

A domino. But where are the rest of the dominoes?

A blue pottery sherd with what looks like ‘TS’ on it.

A pottery sherd that looks like it says "fex" on it, but that seems unlikely.

The metal brown circle.

A tip of a pipe, and a decent bit of pipe and bowl.



In the third picture:

An Aynsley China sherd.

A little button.

Some nice colourful pieces of glass.

A shard of glass that says “Pepsi” on it.



The sun was getting low in the sky and the light was fading as I walked back across to the beach by Gabriel’s Wharf, before the tide came back in.

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

It was sunny when I got to the foreshore and I took my raincoat off and stuffed it in my bag. Of course then it poured with rain and I got drenched. I hid underneath the jetty for shelter for a while, along with a few others.

Before that, I found part of a Victorian marmalade jar, made by Maling, who were based in Newcastle. This is the second one of these I’ve found, but this was a larger chunk. The Thames must eat a lot of marmalade.

I also found a good sized piece of combware, a green bobbly bit of glass and what looks like a piece of a beard from a Bartmann jug



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

I started off at Blackfriars and then just continued walking towards Waterloo Bridge as the tide was out. The beach I finished at was full of large bits of pottery. At low tide it seems accessible from Ernie’s beach, where sand sculptures were being made. I saw people climbing over the gate at the top of the stairs, as it was locked, outside the National Theatre.

Other people on the foreshore included a group with knee pads digging at the end of the beach at Blackfriars and a group outside the National Theatre litter picking.

My most amusing find is a pottery sherd that says “GPO” on it. I concluded it would have been from the refreshments club at GPO West.. which it turns out was on the same site where the BT Centre was later built, the office where I used to work!

Another fun find was a strange looking doll’s bottle from the 1940s. I had no idea that it was a doll’s bottle, but had noticed it had a trademark and said “Mormit” on it. I found a picture of the doll and the bottle on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/146731521183

There's also a pottery sherd with BCM on it - British Commercial Monomarks. I can see it says “Ware” so was probably Nelson Ware who used this mark. Nelson Ware was made by Elijah Cotton and the company was in operation from 1880 - 1981.

The piece of glass looks like it might have L and P on it - Lea and Perrins? Or maybe it's a 7 and not an L.

I came across the most wondrous rock, which wasn't really a rock, more just bits of blue slag and bits of shiny rainbow glass all clumped together, but it seemed almost magical.





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

The opposite of the previous time, the foreshore was too busy for me.

I started off at Cousin Lane Stairs but there were already 4 people at the edge of the river when I got down there, and it felt like there wasn't space for me there too, so I stood there for a few seconds, then left.

I next tried Trig Lane Stairs. There were a few people towards Queenhithe but that looked busy and I'm still not entirely sure where the boundary is of the Ancient Scheduled Monument so I don't want to risk it. There were a few other people on the foreshore too, but I had a few minutes where I mostly just picked up pieces of glass, with the thought that if I collect enough glass, surely one piece would glow under UV? I then concluded maybe I should study pictures of uranium glass first. Time to join another niche Facebook group.

I also picked up a piece of pipe with initials.

A tour group appeared but fortunately I'd already decided to leave even though there was still plenty of time before low tide.

In future I will go to quieter spots.

When I got home, I shone the UV torch at all the pieces, but none glowed, but I also pointed the torch at the piece from before and that did!



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