Skyberries and Voidmelons or Voidberries and Skymelons

Unexpectedly, I was let out of work early on New Year's Eve so rushed to the foreshore. My trains had engineering work so I had to go a different route but then got on the wrong train from London Bridge and ended up in Norwood Junction, far from the river.

I did eventually make it to the South Bank though. Security were making people detour around the back of Gabriel’s Wharf so wouldn't let me get down the steps to the foreshore there, so I walked back towards Blackfriars and finally made it down.

It was the last day of the year and as the sun set, I was on the foreshore, staring at the Thames.

I found a cowrie shell, which would have been used for trade, as they're not native to the Thames. This is the third one I've found.

I found a piece of Meakin Sol Ware with a sun logo, probably from around 1918 - 1963.

I found another piece of Express Dairies aster design.

I found a piece of Lovatt & Lovatt, Langley Mill, Notts, which would have been from between 1895 and 1930. I mostly find things from London or the Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent, not so much other places.

I found a piece of a Bovril jar! My second Bovril jar, but sadly this one was not in one piece.

I found a sherd that said "ich" on it. I assumed this must be German, but the Prince of Wales’ motto is "Ich dien" (meaning "I serve"), so it’s likely to be from that, maybe a commemorative plate.



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

It was dark and drizzly and low tide had already passed when I got to the foreshore, so I made a quick dash along, shining my torch, and just picked up a few bits before heading back, as I didn't fancy climbing over the gate.

There’s another bit of a J Bourne bottle that says 1860 on it, and there’s GL, which was probably G.L. Ashworth, and that has a 3 on it, so maybe that’s from the 1930s?

I am not sure what “kha” is from - probably not the mayor.

“Woo” could be Wood & Son.



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

I went to Chelsea, down the steps by the boats and walked between Battersea Bridge and Albert Bridge, on the north side of the river. From the bus, I could see rainbows on the river, caused by the reflection of windows.

I spoke to a person on the foreshore and asked them what they'd found and they had found a ring, although a modern one.

I found a chunk of a stoneware ginger beer bottle - Clayton’s. It would have said on it:
Clayton’s
Old English
Stone
Ginger Beer
London and Kingston-on-Thames

I found two buttons.

The bus stop was still there, as well as a Lime bike.

A crisp packet floated by.

I found two stickers, one of which was a festive bauble.

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

A lunchtime lark and I found some bits of Westerwald, and what looks like a bit of a comb, with nit comb on one side, possibly bone.



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

After the past few times of being shouted at on the foreshore, I decided to go somewhere quieter - Wapping. Low tide wasn't until 17:15 so I had a whole day to fill first. I walked from Blackfriars to St Katharine Dock and as I walked past the HMS Belfast decided to jump aboard! I quite enjoyed it, having never visited it before. I also popped in to Southwark Cathedral and saw the latest mudlarking case.

When I got to Wapping, I apologised to photographers as I got in the way of their shots as they were blocking the stairs onto the foreshore. Later on there were a few other people mudlarking, but no-one shouted at me this time!

I walked from the New Crane Stairs to Wapping pier and then overshot the stairs, and panicked that I had read the tide times wrong and that the water had engulfed them. (I hadn't, just walked past them.) The stairs with no lower steps started gushing water so I had to jump the stream there.

Finds weren’t plentiful and I didn't stay until low tide as I was cold and the light was fading.

I did find a nice sherd with a child holding a sprig of something though. I also like the sherd with a tree on it.

Also, what I initially thought was part of a glass bottle turned out to be a glass Exide battery case! It would have contained acid for a battery and is likely to be from the 1930s to 1950s. It may have looked like this originally: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156007794819

A piece of coral was an interesting find. Coral isn’t native to the Thames, so it’s likely it was used as ballast on a ship, transported from warmer waters, such as the Carribean.

The “warranted ironstone” sherd is again likely to be from John Edwards. https://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/374.htm

A piece of mochaware.



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

I climbed over the locked gate, as it was getting dark and the tide was coming in. It then started raining when I was on the foreshore. Holding my torch, my umbrella, and my finds bag while poking at things proved a bit difficult, so I ended up not staying that long. I also seemed to have some girls shouting at me - apparently I was holding my umbrella wrongly? Or something like that. But it's hard to hold an umbrella when you're holding so much else and bending over a lot to look at things. Not a fun time on the foreshore really.

I picked up a pipe and a couple of pieces of pottery in desperation, to make it feel like getting wet and getting shouted at and climbing over gates was worthwhile. I found an octopus!

Climbing back over the gate I find a bit more difficult, I am not very flexible, and the gate is wet so I got even more wet.



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

On Sunday morning, I went to Putney, as it was somewhere I hadn’t mudlarked before. I tried going down the Brewhouse Slipway, but it was too muddy. I then found the steps next to Putney Bridge, which were also muddy, but there was a handrail to hold onto for the top steps at least, so I made my way down slowly. The foreshore was covered in silt, as the tide must have started receding before the Uber boats started running again.

I made my way around the mud and the streams of water, and got to the river’s edge. I heard bagpipes being played. It was Remembrance Sunday, so I suspected they were coming from the church just above.

Other people on the foreshore included a person metal detecting, and a person who told me that it was muddy the way they came, and I told them that I’d found a Bovril jar.

At one point I was stood between the river and a large stream bit, as if I was on an island, and even though I knew the tide times and knew the water was still going out, I wasn’t sure I felt that safe, so turned around.

I didn’t take home:

1. A pink iPhone, smashed up, no screen, underneath Putney Bridge.

2. Hindu offerings, a collection of them washed up together.





I walked underneath the bridge and then came across some gates that had warning signs that said lights flash and that there could be sewer outfalls without warning. I walked quickly past, lights were not flashing.

Things I found:

1. A plastic frog head. I think it was a real animal to start with, so was glad to find it wasn’t!

2. A bracelet, perhaps?

3. Glass that says “blis” on it. Probably Chablis, but I like to imagine I found "bliss"

4. Glass that was part of an R White’s bottle.








More things:

1. A Bovril jar! Very excited by this one. It’s not one of the oldest types of Bovril jars as it doesn’t have a long neck, but it does have “oz” on it, so it’s certainly not recent.

2. Barrett & Elers bottle fragment

The “B&” were visible on this fragment, but the symbol on it is more of the giveaway - it’s of a vulcanite bottle stopper! The company was registered in 1897 and Henry Barrett invented this type of bottle stopper in 1872.

An advert from 1883: https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/advert-barrett-elers-london/

–

3. Solo bottle fragment

On the bottom of the bottle it says “Property of Solo B”. The Solo Bottling Company were based at 10 Whitcher Place, NW1. Using 1940s - 1960s OS Maps, it says “Mineral Water Bottling Works” at this address. Whitcher Place does still exist but where this building was located is now UCL student halls.

From a listing of a 1954 receipt on eBay, I've found that Solo Bottling Company were linked to Solo Orchards, who made orange juice and other drinks.

There are various adverts from Solo Orchards, such as “ah! oh! SOLO” from 1948, and eBay also has a beer mat for sparkling orange listed.

Solo Orchards were taken over by Idris in 1960.

So the bottle I found could have contained sparkling orange from Solo Orchards, and is likely to be from the 1940s or 1950s.

1954 receipt:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/167796598399

1948 advert:
https://flic.kr/p/2fFCAWU

Sparkling orange beer mat:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/306036568891

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After that, I continued along the river, through Wandsworth Park, and past Church Draw Dock (another place to mudlark) and a heron, and onwards, over Battersea Bridge, and past the sphinx benches, and then over Vauxhall Bridge, and I stopped my walk there. I walked about 11 miles that day.

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

This sherd is from the Talbot Restaurant, which was located at 64 London Wall. Thomas Edward Davies, the proprietor, is listed as being at the address in 1899 and 1902.

The Talbot Restaurant seems to have been popular to have events, such as annual dinners - hockey club annual dinners, cycling club dinners (and dances!), Hunterian Society dinners and talks, Cable Room Reunion, bohemian concerts put on by cricket clubs, a wide range of events!

There was an older pub at this location though - in 1682, the Old White Horse (aka White Horse Inn) was located at 64 London Wall, but the name was later changed to be the Talbot (aka the Talbot Tavern). It later became an O’Neill’s, but then closed in 2011. It eventually reopened as Chilango, selling Mexican food, and in 2022 rebranded as Tortilla.

I went to visit! I doubt burritos were served at the Talbot Restaurant when T.E. Davies was the proprietor though.



Advert for dining hall to be let:
Talbot Restaurant

Some of the events that happened there:
Cable Room Reunion
Hampstead Hockey Club 1968 annual dinner
De Laune Cycling Club 1928 annual dinner
Bywither Cricket Club 1898 Bohemian Concert
Hunterian Society dinner meetings

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

A lunchtime wander to the foreshore in the rain. A pinkish piece of glass, saying “tent” and a dark blue piece. Some Westerwald stoneware. Something that I thought was a blue bead but now I wonder if it's something else, a bit of cable perhaps? And then a piece that lost its colour and crumbled away.

The rain stopped just for a bit and it wasn't quite dark so I headed for the foreshore. The tide wasn't far out so I just went to Blackfriars.

I didn't find a lot before it started to rain again and the light was poor.

The piece of glass is from a milk bottle from Express Dairies. I've found a piece of glass from one of their bottles before and it was then that I learnt about milk trains. The milk that would have been inside the bottle likely travelled to London on a milk train. Wikipedia has a detailed article on milk trains: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_railway_milk_trains

In other news, I am trying to get to grips with Instagram and attempting to post photos of some of my mudlarking finds over there. In the past I've only really used Instagram to look up what flavours of ice-cream are currently available in various ice-cream parlours, so it may take me a while to get used to it.



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