Skyberries and Voidmelons or Voidberries and Skymelons

Sunset was before low tide, so this was a short trip to the foreshore on a Saturday evening.

I found another vulcanite bottle stopper. This one says “F. Daniells Addlestone” on it. F. Daniells manufactured aerated mineral water in Addlestone from 1895 to 1909 so the bottle stopper is likely from then.

I found a piece of a jam jar that says “W.P. Hartley” and it's got a little bit of the lighthouse logo. I wonder what flavour of jam it contained.

I found a handle from something, a knife perhaps.

It was getting dark and I decided it was time to stop mudlarking as I wasn't able to see much. I instead turned on my UV torch and swept across the foreshore with the purple light. I did find a few tiny pieces of uranium glass that glowed brightly. It may be “custard glass” as without UV it looks kind of white. I am not going to lick it to see if it tastes like custard.



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

I was up late at a party on Saturday so chose to go to Chelsea on Sunday where low tide was a bit later in the day.





I didn't take:

A bus stop. I waited on the foreshore, but no bus arrived. Swans dwelled for a while nearby on the water and I wondered if they wanted to catch the bus too. Where would it go, this bus, which surely must be an amphibious vehicle, and may well be magical?

A combination padlock. I did pick it up initially as I thought finding a padlock was like being in a real life escape room, but then I put it down again as it was quite heavy, and I hadn't come to a conclusion on what I would do with it.

A safe.

A brick that said “Owen”.

There seemed to be less litter and also less shells this time.



I did take:

A green jack, a Victorian game piece, which would have been part of a game known as knucklebones.

A Codd bottle glass marble. Codd bottles held carbonated drinks and were designed in 1872. The marble would be pushed against the washer, sealing the bottle.

A glass marble with a red swirly inside, like I had when I was a child.

A nice handle from something, maybe a hand tool.

( cut for sadness )





Lots of bits of glass:

Part of a torpedo bottle. These were designed to be laid on their side and filled with carbonated beverages.

Part of a small dark blue glass bottle - possibly a medicine bottle?

A strangely bowl-shaped bit of glass which shines with rainbow colours as the glass has degraded. I'm unsure what this would have been. Any ideas?

Part of an R Whites bottle. Perhaps it could have been filled with lemonade or one of the other many flavours of soft drink from R Whites. Apparently at the beginning of the 20th century more than 40 flavours were on sale.

One bit that says “onaut” on it, which probably would have said “Argonaut” and would have been filled with hat polish. Probably Victorian. Hat polish!!

“Imperial pint” - probably from a beer bottle.
“Perth Whisky”
“This is”
Two bits that say something like “No deposit charge” on them, could again be R Whites.

Some big chunks of Staffordshire style Slipware.



I was not too far from the Vivienne Westwood Invader, so went to see that afterwards:

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.

The skies were grey and it was raining when I headed to the foreshore, with my umbrella up. I headed down the steps at Gabriel’s Wharf and along to outside the National Theatre again and wondered what I was doing out there getting wet.

Things found:
Part of a lightbulb with liquid trapped inside, a vulcanite bottle stopper, a battery, a green bead, most of a pipe with maker’s initials A.R.

Staffordshire blue and white pottery (two pieces) with blue circles and possibly a bird. A pottery sherd with some people on, features almost worn away. Marmalade jar remains. A Panda sticker. An eye. Staffordshire Slipware. A sherd that says EE.

A pottery sherd from the Aerated Bread Company. Founded in 1862, by 1925 they had 250 tea shops. According to Wikipedia, the tea shops were one of the first places Victorian women could go alone.

Happy anniversary to the Thames! Keep on flowing!

I sang to myself on the foreshore. It's amazing to me how you can find a spot alone in central London. I was joined by two other people mudlarking later but enjoyed having the foreshore to myself for a while. When the tide turned, the two other people turned back and I did too.





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

I tried to go mudlarking in Battersea previously, but somehow got off the bus on the wrong side of the river and ended up in Chelsea. It was only when I saw Battersea Power Station on the opposite side of the river to me that I realised my mistake. This time though I got off the bus at the correct stop, on the south side of the river.

The set of steps downstream from Battersea Bridge led to slippery mud so I then tried the steps upstream of the bridge. They were slippery with mud but there was a handrail to hold onto and at the bottom of the steps, the foreshore was fine to walk along.

I watched a heron for a while, underneath the bridge.

There were quite a lot of bits of wood on the foreshore and some shells, but not as many as on the other side of the river.

I found another Paw Patrol toy, which at first I thought was a goblet. I found one on Friday as well, so it seemed odd to find another so soon.

I found a Ganesh idol, but left it on the foreshore, along with a pair of pink glasses, and many shoes, including some with little nails holding them together. I later found out that the Salvation Army had a kind of recycling centre near here, so perhaps that is why there were so many shoes.

I found a little pouch with symbols on it which made me wonder if it was for Holy Communion.

I found a different coloured piece of combware, not the usual yellow and brown. I also picked up blue and white sherds with a fragment of a building and of a fence on.

It was quite a miserable day and I got a bit cold and wet, but the foreshore was quiet, which I enjoyed and sang songs to myself as I walked along.

I found another piece of uranium glass! It glows brightly. I have found some other pieces of glass since the first one that glow slightly, but not brightly. I am not sure what they are - cadmium perhaps? I think now I have a better idea of what uranium glass looks like so I’ll be able to find more.

A goose hissed at me.

I found what was probably a Victorian scrubbing brush. It has bristles held together at the back with little bits of wire. There were various factories in the area back then so I wonder if it was used for scrubbing in a factory.

I found a pink eye and wondered about the toy it might have fallen off.

I found a piece of Royal Doulton with a green logo. Apparently that logo was used from approximately 1930 to 1993 so it could actually have been quite modern, although probably wasn't from the 1990s.

I found some bits of pipes with decorations on them. I have quite a few with the initials of makers, but this was the first time I found any that were patterned.

I found a piece of glass which looks to say "energy" on it. Part of a Lucozade bottle, perhaps?

I walked towards Albert Bridge until I reached Ransome's Dock and could go no further.









I headed across Battersea Bridge and noticed this sign:


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

This year I visited:

The Royal Bell
11 Elstree Hill
The Bottle Factory
Thames Distillers (at the Bottle Factory)
London Coffee Factory (at the Bottle Factory)
St Michael Cornhill
Mansion House
Maughan Library at King’s College London

Internet Infrastructure of London walking tour
Hermitage Community Moorings (with sea shanties being sung)
Sailing Barge Will (at Hermitage Community Moorings)
Kinetic sculptures at Trinity Buoy Wharf
SS Robin at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Western Riverside Waste Authority

The tide was quite up, but I was just passing on my way to a playground that made sounds, so I headed to the foreshore anyway.

A dog ran past me to the gate and the owner apologised. I then saw the dog enjoying a swim in the river.

"Are you mudlarking?" a man asked from the top of the steps.

"I am!" I told him.

He told me he’d found a purple rock and held it up, but I couldn't see it very well.

The Pile had gone. Previously at Blackfriars, piled up in one corner were stones and sherds and glass and bones, and everything else. You could stand there on the pile of bones as everyone rushed by to get their trains. But now instead there was just sand.

It was nice to stand by the lapping waves of the Thames again.

I didn't find any purple rocks, but I picked up another flint (which I then cracked by pouring boiling water on it - I do need to find better methods of cleaning things!), a brown and white sherd, one of the collection of square black tiles, and a few pieces of glass.



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

I went to a mudlarking exhibition in the Guildhall Amphitheatre last week and then to a mudlarking artists panel. I spoke to a few of the mudlarks at the exhibition, who told me to keep on looking and where to look for garnets. I was also inspired by the artists, both on the panel and in the audience.

After that, I was eager to get back on the foreshore, but due to being busy last weekend and then the tube strike, I hadn't been to the foreshore for a week. I felt certain I'd find something amazing after seeing all the finds on the tables at the Guildhall though.

I headed to Custom House and down to the foreshore, and the tide had started to come in. A person from New Zealand asked me what I’d found. She told me how she had been mudlarking previously and even took some pipes back to New Zealand, but then after that, she read a book on mudlarking and learnt you need a permit to mudlark.

I did not find a lot that day, but I did find a nice chunk of flint, some pretty pottery sherds, a shiny piece of glass, and a tessera.



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

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.)

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.)