Mudlarking 50!
Oct. 9th, 2025 08:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
squirmeliaSaturday 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.)
-
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.)
no subject
Date: 2025-10-10 07:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-13 06:07 pm (UTC)"Possession of a permit for a minimum of four years
A substantive and recorded history of reporting finds to the PAS: and
A substantive and recorded history of contributing to the educational, cultural and historic life of London."
Unfortunately none of those are likely to apply to me. I've not found anything yet that I think has been worth reporting to the Finds Liaison Officer so thinking it's unlikely now that I will.
10,000 people applied for permits a year ago and the waiting list has been closed since. I will apply again if/when they reopen the list.
They also have creative permits which allow you to sell or exhibit what you've made with your finds, but there’s only 30 of those, so even more difficult to get.
Anyway, I've still got about 6 months left, I might grow tired of mudlarking by then! But I am going to try to go as much as possible while I still can.