Lara Maiklem (Surrey, 52 years old) saw at least three bodies floating in the Thames. And many other human remains from times past, shins, skulls, jaws with teeth still in place: people who accidentally fell off ships, who died in battles, who took their own lives, or who were thrown into the water because someone wanted to get rid of them , his corpse (and that it was never known again). In fact, Maiklem found a skull near the mouth, which he named Fred: it was 300 years old and probably belonged to a prisoner locked up in a jail in the area.
Nor is it about, but about finding those objects that a city as populous and with such a long history as London has left on the river that flows through it. “The river is everywhere in London, but sometimes we don’t even seem to see it,” explains Maiklem, author of Mudlarking. History and Lost Property in the Thames (Captain Swing). There he recounts his adventures and discoveries as a Mudlarker, one of those dredgers who use the ebb (the advantage of the Thames is that it is a tidal river) to examine the mud and find the gifts of other times. “People love it because we all have a hunter-gatherer in us,” he says. “It’s the excitement of finding something you didn’t expect.”
Handmade copper alloy pins, circa 1400-1600, found by Lara Maiklem on the banks of the River Thames. Photo courtesy of the publisher.
Mudlarking was historically an activity associated with the lower classes of society. “They have existed since there were people who were so poor that they looked for what other people threw away. The term has been used since the late 18th century and refers to those people living on the fringes. It was a way of surviving, but now it’s become a hobby,” says the author, who popularized the activity on social media under the moniker The London Mudlark. His book is also a reflection on the city’s history and also “a declaration of love” to the river: “It’s a beautiful, ugly place, like all of London, which is a bit badass,” he jokes.
Roman bottle caps, 19th-century lead types (by bookbinder TJ Cobden-Sanderson, who tipped 500,000 into the river Hammersmith came from), Tudor-era bricks, a medieval band of pilgrims, a 16th-century sword, an Iron Age vessel… the Thames is the longest archaeological bed in England: thousands of objects kept in museums come from its banks. For example the famous Battersea Shield, a Celtic bronze piece that was found between 350 and 50 BC. was dated. C., now in the British Museum. To start your search, it is advisable to consult old maps and go to where there are or were human activities: warehouses, docks, workshops, bridges or jetties. That’s why you often find objects of little value that are associated with everyday life: iron chains, wooden bowls, the handle of a copper-colored frying pan, beads, keys, nails, pieces of string or the pegs of a musical instrument. “For me personally, this list takes me back to other times and at the same time is very familiar to me,” writes Maiklem, who was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries in 2022.
Everyone’s Story
So the Mudlarkers find in the mud of the Thames the remains of anyone’s history, not that of kings, dynasties and grand campaigns, but that of the commoner trying to survive by the river in a town crazier. One of the reasons many antiquities are found, in addition to those that people cast into the water, is that at other times the waste was used to fill and strengthen the river’s retaining walls and other structures. As these erode or become damaged or destroyed, the pieces are released as if preserved in history’s freezer.
There are laws governing which pieces of mudlar core can be preserved and which must be delivered to the Museum of London, which relies heavily on these finds. There are objects that are considered “treasures” by the state: for example, they must be over 300 years old and contain at least 10% by weight precious metals, although there are other types. Of course, there is also a lot of contemporary material in the waters, especially from the field of hygiene or medicine: bath toys, combs, ostomy bags, syringes or toothbrushes. And be careful, you may encounter sewage that dumps the equivalent of 7,200 Olympic-size swimming pools a year into the river. Today the Thames is one of the cleanest urban rivers in the world, but by the mid-20th century it was so polluted and neglected that it was considered “biologically dead”. It was necessary to face an operation that eventually succeeded in order to regain her.
The “Mudlarker” Lara Maiklem browses on the banks of the Thames in London. Photo courtesy of the Editorial.Michael White
Not everyone can do it: you need a license to practice mudlarking. And to become a member of the prestigious Society of Scavengers, founded in 1962 by Harry Mostyn, curator of the National Maritime Museum, which is another level, it is necessary to have the standard license for two years and to make contributions to the museum from London. There are people who use metal detectors and dig holes in the ground, but Maiklem is not for this last practice because it can seriously damage buried objects and the river bank itself. She prefers to just look at the surface, seeing what the river offers her with the naked eye.
Maiklem began mudlarking when she moved to the capital from the family farm in Surrey in the early 1990s: As a restless young woman, she was bored with country life and wanted to be dazzled by the lights and chaos of London. And he did. Once in London, the Thames was just an obstacle that she crossed slumped in the back seat of a taxi, returning at dawn from discos and crazy parties. But one day he noticed… and it felt good, like coming home.
In fact, he retains some skills from his rural past for his homework: the supple back of a family used to picking potatoes and the full attention to small things taught him by his mother, who liked to take care of everything (even until it gets a bit irritating). Now Maiklem pays close attention to what the mud on the river bank holds and has adjusted his gaze to interpret it, much like a scientist learns to interpret what he sees under a microscope. There are few straight lines in nature, few perfect shapes, so recognizing them in the mud is a way of recognizing what has been created by human hands.
Some dangers of getting lost in the river
Practicing mudlarking has mental benefits for developing patience during hectic times, unwinding from your smartphone, isolating yourself from the outside world, and practicing mindfulness by forgetting about worldly issues. Although this absence from this world can be dangerous when searching: “One must be aware of the tide, which can rise rapidly when one is distracted. And you also have to be careful in places where the mud is very deep and you can sink in,” warns the expert.
Tudor period children’s shoe, circa 16th century, found on the banks of the Thames by Lara Maiklem. Photo courtesy of the publisher.
Sometimes Maiklem finds bottles with messages inside, messages that are children’s tales of dragons and princesses, or intimate doodles, farewells to loved ones gone forever, or psychological demons that someone wishes to conjure up by putting them in the river as therapy , like a charm, in a river that also has a long magical, religious, spiritual history. “Sometimes searching in the flow is like reading a newspaper: love letters, old photos, engagement rings turn up…” says the author. The precious “witch bottles” also appear with some frequency, but not too often: containers filled with urine, nails, hair or fingernails, which served as protection against hypothetical evil spells.
But Maiklem’s favorite find is a little boy’s shoe from the Tudor era in the 16th century: “The mud holds the fabrics the way they landed in the river, so this shoe is perfectly preserved, you can see the shape perfectly of the child’s fingers, that used it, a hole in the big toe… It’s like going back in time. For that feeling, for that discovery, it is worth spending hours and hours in the wet and cold Thames in search of the banks of the Thames,” concludes the Mudlarker.
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