Liz Anderson
@lizanderson
Licensed Thames Mudlark. Up To My Eyes In Silt. NB: It is illegal to search the tidal Thames Foreshore, for any reason, without a valid permit from the Port of London Authority. Instagram: @lizanderson2 Blog: A Mudlark’s Diary
Bushy Park paths looking like a dust bowl this afternoon. Never thought I’d tire of a Mediterranean blue sky but there isn’t a cloud in sight and MY GOD we desperately need rain. Thistles and allium heads all dried out, Red Admiral seen basking on the dried earth, mercifully a little stream nearby.
Shout-out to ‘Meet the Mudlarks’ at Southwark Cathedral tomorrow, Saturday 25th July, 10am-4pm. Not free entry like our Hands on History ones as this is a full Heritage event with lots of other activities organised by the Cathedral. I’ll be sharing a table with my mudlarking friend Sam. Do come!
Greater Spotted Woodpecker tail feather found in our garden this morning, rather lovely. We’ve had one of these lads here recently perching on the tomato plant supports - the feather (just one) probably lost due to preening activity rather than anything sinister *stares hard at neighbour’s cat*
Re-reading this beautifully written book, taught me so much when I began mudlarking, Ted Sandling’s ‘London in Fragments: A Mudlark’s Treasures.’ Iain Sinclair wrote the forward - “The joy of (this book) is it takes us straight back to the founding myth of our city: why we are here, why we remain.”
Rather knackered but beautifully swirly WLER initials visible on the button - West London Extension Railway, built at a time when London’s suburbs were expanding fast & Acts of Parliament were being passed to open train lines all over the country. The WLER was a 5.5 mile long railway line linking 2/
Copper alloy button taken in for recording by my Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) last week on the Portable Antiquities Scheme, part of the T&Cs of having a mudlarking permit. Usually items have to be over 300yrs old to be recorded, but this button is rare & has an important London transport story 1/
Bonne Fête Nationale, Emmanuel Macron’s last as President. I will miss him 🇫🇷 #lequatorzejuillet
Hot in the City today as I made my twice yearly trip to my Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) at the London Museum. Part of the regulation around having a PLA mudlarking permit is the legal obligation to report & record foreshore finds of historical interest. I had seven items taken in for recording -
Nicely irridescent lip and stopper from an early R White’s lemonade bottle found on the Thames foreshore today. If you’re of a certain age you might remember the R White’s TV ad - ‘I’m A Secret Lemonade Drinker.’ Fun fact, this was written & sung by Ross McManus, dad of Declan, aka Elvis Costello.
SW London currently two degrees hotter than Athens so this is the perfect book to read today while my servant (husband) brings me cooling drinks. ‘Pandora’s Jar: Women in Greek Myths’ by the excellent @nataliehaynes.bsky.social
Too hot for larking atm but this beauty was from last week. Fragment of Roman roof tile (tegula) complete with partial dog’s paw print (trace of claw visible.) Imagining the scene nearly 2,000 yrs ago when a tile maker’s drying these in the sun & a dog walks over them WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD.
Becoming a bit obsessed with these. I think this may be a whetstone used for sharpening knives (so topical…) Made of sandstone, which is primarily quartz or feldspar, traces of rust visible often found when sharpening an iron blade. Deep grooves at one end, this could be medieval/post medieval.
Glorious day for our first Hands on History #mudlarking exhibition at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, yesterday. So many visitors to our tables sharing the stories of some of our favourite finds. The exhibition’s open today, free entry, 11-4pm. Entry via glass building next to the church.
If you’re in the area please pop into St Martin-in-the-Fields for this weekend’s Hands on History mudlarking exhibition. Today 10-4pm, Sunday 11-4pm, free entry. Entry through the glass building next to the church. Do come!
Sweet little blue on white transferware sherd up from the Thames Foreshore this week. Pointy finger and shoe, perhaps telling us to step forward, one foot in front of the other, and on we go #mudlark
Mudlarking squad has arrived. Seven chicks. Seven. Hopefully they survive, some vicious crows in the vicinity but Ma & Pa keeping a close eye on their fam.
Jo Cox MP was murdered ten years ago today. I walked among the steadily growing tributes in Parliament Square the next day, shocked & stunned, as was everyone else. Some tourists stopped to ask me what had happened and when I told them they said ‘but this sort of thing doesn’t happen in the U.K.’
My home borough of LBRUT has beautiful green spaces, riverside view, Thames path walks and so much more, but the biggest tourist draw right now is the Ted Lasso shop in Paved Court.
Embankment taxi shelter. Small green hut, no bigger than a horse and cart. Between 1875-1914 there were 61 of them built in London selling food & non-alcoholic drinks to cabbies. The shelters also had tables, seats, books & newspapers donated by publishers. Now Grade II listed, eleven survive.
Excited to announce our very first Hands on History mudlarking exhibition in the splendid St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, next weekend - Saturday 20th/ Sunday 21st June. From 10-4pm, free entry. I’ll be exhibiting some favourite finds with links to Westminster & the Parish of St Martin.
To the Philip Mould Gallery today, 18-19 Pall Mall, for the ‘Elizabeth I: Queen and Court’ exhibition. Particularly in love with the Clopton portrait of Elizabeth, her first as Queen, rather Gothic looking, intense, unusual black & white image. On till 10th July, free entry, highly recommend.
Haven’t been mudlarking for a few weeks but took myself off to the Thames Foreshore yesterday for a quick lark. Spotted this blue doughnut shaped glass bead, can’t see any striations (which means it wasn’t lampworked on a mandrel) indicating it’s probably 1930s or later. Sweet.
The Victorian-era knew how to advertise, Fellows & Co proudly touted their wares: household remedies, tinctures & quack medicines such as their famous ‘Fellows Compound Syrup of Hypophosphites’ which contained grisly ingredients such as alkaloid strychnine, likely to make patients feel much worse 2/
Found on a recent Mudlark on the SW Foreshore, an intact Victorian apothecary bottle embossed with the name ‘Fellows & Co, St John, N.B, which is New Brunswick Canada. This part of the foreshore is rich in ancient secrets, the apothecary bottle found washed up next to three Iron Age timber posts 1/