snejniikorol

A lunchtime lark and the foreshore was full of tourists.

One man was showing his small daughter how you should scrape the top level off, in an area where no surface disturbance is allowed. That annoyed me.

Anyway, apart from the tourists, there was one other mudlark there that lunchtime, wearing wellies, mostly in the mud.

I didn't find a lot. A chunk of a John Maddock plate, possibly from between 1906 and 1927. I don’t usually find sherds with words on in this area. A bit of a plastic flower. A bit of glass that said 72 on it. A piece of Staffordshire style slipware, some bits of Bellarmine. I was happy to find a button.

It was near to low tide so I walked underneath Grant’s Quay Wharf. It's a bit dark under there so more difficult to mudlark but it feels like you're somewhere secret when you're amongst the wooden struts.

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

squirmelia

I was awake at 5AM and I was the only person to get on the first train of the day at my station.

It was Solstice, and at sunrise, I was on the foreshore, staring at the Thames and the pink sky.

I found a broken plastic domino! I found a jack (alley gob) similar to the one I found previously!

–

I found a sherd from an inventor who exhibited in the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace!

The sherd says 17 Silver-Street, Wood Street on it.

Mayo & Co were located at this address and appear in a catalogue for the Great Exhibition, which was held at Crystal Palace in 1851.

Description from the catalogue:
“Patent syphon vases, for containing aerated or gaseous mineral waters. They afford the means for withdrawing at pleasure such quantities as may be desired, whilst that which remains for subsequent use retains its purity and effervescence. The vases exhibited are specimens of the combination of metal with pottery. The process of manufacture is the invention of the exhibitor.”

Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851:
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pdp6m5e3/items?canvas=406&manifest=2&shouldScrollToCanvas=true

Silver Street no longer exists, but there is still a small garden - St Olave Silver Street, where a church once stood. There's also a plaque in the garden for Shakespeare as he had lodgings on Silver Street.

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I found a pink plastic star spokey-dokey, that may once have been attached to a bicycle.

I found an orange button.

I found a stoneware sherd that says “gin”, but it probably contained ginger beer.

Two pieces I haven’t figured out:
The dark brown sherd that has the word “king” visible
The lighter brown sherd that has “N.Higg” visible.

Glass:

–
A good chunk of a bottle that says “216 Kingsland Road” and “Batey” on it. Batey made ginger beer and mineral water and “Batey’s Britannia Steam Works” was located at 216 Kingsland Road from 1847.

How it looked in 1920:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DrLNoPDW4AELDkw?format=jpg&name=medium

212 - 216 Kingsland Road is now the Suleymaniye Mosque.

–

Another piece of a medicine bottle with “Sp” on it, which would have had measurements for tea spoons or table spoons on it.

R Whites, always so much lemonade.

“Ingsland” - likely another Batey.

“Bourne Denby 09” - Probably from 1909.

Not yet identified:

“eet.w.”

“re”

“ford”

–

Dominoes and jacks - the white ones were the ones I found this time:

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

squirmelia

Any you'd like to join me for, or do you have any other suggestions I should add?

New things in London:
1. London Museum (opens end of 2026?)
2. V&A East (opens April)
3. Climb on the roof of Alexandra Palace (opens February)
4. Duck tour - amphibious bus
5. Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration (opens May)

Museums to visit in London:
1. Peek Freans Biscuit Museum (Bermondsey)
2. British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum (West Dulwich)
3. London Transport Museum Depot. (Acton)
4. Sewing Machine Museum. (Balham)
5. Freud Museum. (Finchley)
6. Whitewebbs Museum of Transport. (Enfield)
7. Magic Circle Museum. (Euston)
8. Queer Britain Museum. (King’s Cross)
9. Kempton Steam Museum & Kempton Hampton Waterworks railway (Kempton)

Toilets and temples and caves and stars:
1. Go on a tour of public toilets in London. (Loo Tours).
2. Visit the Neasden Temple.
3. Visit Leighton House.
4. Go on a tour of a crypt, at St Alfege. (Greenwich).
5. Try out LARPing or dance at a goth night in Chislehurst Caves.
6. Visit an observatory and look at stars.
7. Sing songs at Maraoke (karaoke where the lyrics are changed to be about video games).
8. See at least 10 more Invaders (street art).
9. Climb the Beckton Alps.
10. Visit the Tower of London.

Robots:
1. Robot coffee
2. Robot bubble tea
3. Robot waiters

Some exhibitions/light festivals that look interesting:
1. Internet Cafe at 1 Poultry (30 January – 7 March 2026)
2. Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life at the Hayward (17 February - 3 May)
3. The 90s at the Tate Britain (8 October - 14 February 2027)
4. Canary Wharf Winter Lights (January 20 - 31))
5. Vibrance festival of light and sound (January 29 - 30)
6. Robert Cervera - Hiddenware at Space Gallery in Ilford (performances 31 January & 21 March, exhibition until 15 April)

Near London:
1. Foulness Island - either walk the Broomway or visit the information centre.
2. Diggerland
3. Chatham Dockyard
4. Citadel in Dover
5. London bus museum
6. Epping Ongar railway

Tunnels not very close to London:
1. Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool & Mersey Tunnel tour
2. Air raid shelter tour in Bristol & Clifton Suspension Bridge vaults

Even further away:
Will 2026 be the year I fly a one person helium filled airship through a cave, dive in a gasometer, wander through the ghost town of Craco, climb the slag heaps of Charleroi or visit an abandoned gingerbread factory?

squirmelia

1. "What the aliens heard when they landed on Earth" - If aliens landed on Earth, what would the first thing they heard be? Using locations of UFO sightings in London, I will record sounds at these locations. If you touch the location on the map, you can listen to the sounds and also a description of the UFO that was sighted.

2. A pinwheel that you blow on, and then you can hear sounds of the wind on Mars.

3. Items found on the Thames foreshore that you touch and then you can hear sounds of where they originally came from.

squirmelia

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.)

squirmelia

This felt like a proper adventure! I walked across a bridge to Albert Island, near to City Airport. It's mostly abandoned at the moment, but there was recent news that Billingsgate and Smithfield Markets will move there.

I peered into a building with broken windows that contained rusty lock machinery.

( Read more... )

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

Reading

Mudlarking 76 - Grant's Quay Wharf

Mudlarking 75 - Solstice

Things to do in 2026, mostly in London

Three projects for 2026

Mudlarking 73 - dark and drizzly

Mudlarking 72 - An abandoned island

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December 2025

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