When I got to the foreshore that lunchtime, there was a serious mudlark there with wellies, digging.

The tide was coming in, so I didn't have a lot of time there, but it is always a nice way to spend a lunch break.

The mudlark came up to me, so I asked him if he'd found anything and he said he hadn't, but it was a nice spot.

Saturday marked the 50th day I've been mudlarking since I got my permit in April. I hadn't realised when I got a permit how much I would enjoy mudlarking and how much I would end up going. It seems unlikely that I will get to 100 times before my permit expires though due to the lessening of daylight. It has been fun and I've been to places that have been new for me, having rarely ventured onto the foreshore before I got a permit. I've found so many curious things. I've gained an interest in history and learnt so much about London.

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On Saturday, low tide was after sunset. I walked along the foreshore from Gabriel’s Wharf and past the National Theatre and underneath Waterloo Bridge. I actually wore wellies. I don’t usually bother, but it made me worry less about the areas where I start to sink, which there are quite a few of around there.

On this day I mostly collected pottery sherds with words and pieces of glass.

I found a sherd that says “Meakin” and “Hotel ware” on if. If the sherd had a W it would have been used by the government but this one doesn't seem to have, so may just have been standard utilitarian ware. The most exciting thing about Meakin though is that he created giant teapots! Look at this picture of a person in a teapot! https://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters_photos/meakin_teapot/Ichenhauser_BW.jpg

Another sherd says:
Crescent
Vitrified
Geo Jones & Sons
Stoke on Trent

This would have been George Jones & Sons, in operation from 1873 - 1957.

I like seeing pictures of the factories.

Another sherd says:
Bennett & Co Ltd
Victoria Pottery
Burslem
England

The Potteries website has an entry for George Bennett & Co, or it could have been Sandland, Bennett & Co, so this sherd probably dates from 1887 - 1902.

The Doulton Lambeth stoneware was probably 1858 - 1910.

The stripey piece is from another Maling Newcastle marmalade jar.

Another sherd has 52 on it. This was the year Queen Elizabeth II became the queen, so could have been from a commemorative plate.

The green cherub with a trumpet is plastic and made in Hong Kong.



I collected a number of bits of glass. Some say “Coca-Cola” and one is from an “R Whites” lemonade bottle. One of the bottles says Express Dairies on it, so was probably from a milk bottle. The company was apparently founded in 1864 as Express County Milk Supply Company as they used express trains to get their milk to London. Milk trains!



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

I had been to the dentist and needed cheering up and lunchtime coincided with low tide so I popped briefly to the foreshore outside the National Theatre.

I found a bracelet, a button, a bit of a marmalade jar, a piece of wood, some nice sherds and another piece of uranium glass!



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