Welcome!

My name is Zoë and I’m a newly-permitted Thames creative mudlark. Join me on my journey through history as I learn about the treasures I find – insights into the lives of Londoners and people all over the world.

I look forward to sharing my love of the river with you through the objects that I find.

As a creative permit holder, I’m able to share what I make. The first release of items sold out, so please stand by while I restock. 🙂

Are you a tourist hoping to mudlark during your visit to London?

United Dairies Bottle, 1950s

I pulled this gorgeous United Dairies bottle from the mud in the same “horrible mudlarking” jaunt as my 1960 Coca-Cola bottle. It is not my first intact bottle find – I did previously find an intact bottle at Charlton, but it was a modern miniature spirit and not especially exciting, whereas this feels like an…
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Classic Coca Cola bottle, 1960

This Coca Cola bottle was in such good condition I presumed it was modern but soon realised it was old-fashionably heavy…
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First not-plain pipe stem!

I washing this pipe stem when my fingers felt something my eyes had missed! It says THWARK as you can see, indicating it was made in the area of Bankside (Southwark). There were many pipe-makers in the area. Unfortunately the marks on the other side, which could indicate a name, have worn too much to…
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I saved a sole

Hobnail boot soles are very common on the foreshore and so were my first thought when I found this leather sole and saw that it had a nail in it. As a child of the 70s, my only real reference point for hobnail boots is Constable Goon, Enid Blyton’s perpetually cross village plod, but once…
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Thames potatoes

As an Irishwoman, I’m always pleased to see a nice potato and the Thames kind are no exception. Thames potatoes are bricks that have been worn away into a pebble. “Captain Tidemark” reckons this process will take at least 50-150 years. The London stock brick owes its distinctive yellow colour to the chalk content in…
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Staffordshire Slipware

I was excited to find this piece of pottery on my first lark that looks like icing, and honestly even more excited to find out it was fairly common. In fact, I found another bit today while on a casual Bankside walk-with-a-permit during my lunch break. Slipware dates from the mid 17th to the mid…
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Alvarez buttons: an excuse to mention Woolwich and a new find goal

I’m watching this Nicola White video, and she mentions Woolwich, whoohoo! I am therefore adding to my bingo list: a button from Alvarez tailors, of 22 Hare Street, Woolwich. I used to live in that street, so it will be a particularly exciting thing to find. The Alvarez shop is lost under the 1930s building…
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Clay pipes

It’s a sign of what a total n00b I am to mudlarking that on my first trip yesterday, I may have absent-mindedly rejected the first clay pipe stem I saw as a piece of modern cable insulation! I was only when I then saw a few together that I realised what a complete eejit I…
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Mudlark bingo / find goals

I’m thinking of the various events and finds that should be on my newbie bingo card… Find goals added since original post: As you can see, I did not need a permit to find my first toast!
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Hello!

I’m a newly approved mudlark, and can’t wait to make this space something special. I love the Thames, and hope to be able to share that joy with everyone through the items I find.
Read on…