Peripatetic Accounts Redux

After work, I headed down to Gabriel’s Wharf, and walked down onto the foreshore, but even at low tide, it was too high to walk along to the bit of foreshore outside the National Theatre. That day the low tide was apparently 2.15.

I found a few bits of Staffordshire style slipware and a piece with a few letters, and some leafy pieces, and a round yellow thing. But mostly I was just annoyed I couldn’t walk further along.



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

I decided to try somewhere new again! Trinity Wharf Stairs outside Surrey Docks Farm.

When I reached the foreshore, there was someone digging to the right of the stairs. I walked that way a little bit and then decided to walk to the left. It was pebbly on the upper bit of the foreshore but lower down, there was a lot of mud. I took tentative steps and felt myself sinking in it so tried to be careful. Another mudlark appeared and was a lot more confident than me at walking over the mud nimbly!

This seemed much more like the kind of place I see the famous mudlarks finding things, prying items out of the mud. A lot of the foreshore I walk on isn't muddy at all, it's just pebbles.

I walked up to where there was a sign saying "Engineers Mills". The full sign apparently said:
Engineers
Mills & Knight
Nelson Dry Dock
Ship repairs



I found a pint glass with a handle, buried in the mud, and was glad I had my trowel, so I could dig it out. It has a pint symbol on it and looks like it says 1370 on it, which means it's from Chesterfield and was made between 1971 and 2006, so quite recent really. It has survived at least 20 years in the mud though! It's quite heavy.

I found a bottle, and it's still full of mud, and I'm trying to get the mud out of it. It's a UGB (United Glass Bottle Manufacturers) bottle, but on the side it says LWD - London Wholesale Dairies. Here's a photo of their building in Vauxhall in 1927: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/BL29277/001 They were the wholesale arm of United Dairies.

I found an Amazon Basics plate, which I left on the foreshore.

I found a small cowrie shell with holes in it. I also found a bit of coral, which may have been used on a ship as ballast. There's also a stone that looks like it has tiny bits of fossils in it.

I found a piece of glass that was probably once a Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society milk bottle. Written on it is "Royal Arsenal" and "RACS". RACS were in operation from 1872 to 1987 when they merged with the Co-Op. Their headquarters were in Woolwich. As well as shops selling food, they ran everything from hairdressers to bookshops to undertakers to hotels, and also built houses. Their motto was "Each for all and all for each". I also found a second piece of glass.

I found a piece of glass from a Walker’s Kilmarnock whiskey bottle. They later became Johnnie Walker, in 1909.

I found a red and white sherd, that might be from Hilti.

I found a piece of green glass from an R White's bottle that said "Camberwell" on it.

I found a bit of a pipe with the initials I I on it.

I have yet to figure out the piece of glass with "KS" written on it.

Surrey Docks Farm had signs around that explained the history of the area, of how the area was used for shipbuilding and how there was a smallpox receiving station there. There was also a mudlarked finds box but unfortunately there was a lot of condensation on it, so it was difficult to see. They had pottery from the smallpox receiving station and from London County Council (LCC). They also had a mosaic made from clay pipes and bits of pottery.

I had a quick look around the farm after mudlarking and they had a few more signs about the history, as well as pigs, goats, cows, sheep, and other animals.

After that, I walked past some more steps that were a bit green, but the gate was open, near the Ship & the Whale and wondered if the glass had come from that pub.

I then saw people running to get on a boat at Greenland Pier, so I decided to do the same, not knowing where the boat was going. I ended up getting off the boat in Woolwich.









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

I had been tempted to book the morning off work when I noticed a very low tide, but was only properly swayed when a fellow mudlark asked if I was going to the foreshore.

BBC predicted the tide as 0.00, so we were keen to visit the bottle graveyard. PLA’s prediction was 0.22, but in the end it was actually observed as 0.36, so we were not able to get there, but we did find some interesting items anyway.



In the first picture:

A finger! Don’t worry, it’s a plastic one. Possibly a witch’s finger.

A Codd bottle marble

A button

A pink bead and a blue bead

A brown piece of glass that says 6oz on it. Possibly from a large Bovril jar that was 16oz. It’s a different shade of brown to the other Bovril jar I found though.

A piece of uranium glass that glows brightly under UV.

A Minton sherd with a globe mark. Possibly 1863 - 1872.
https://www.thepotteries.org/potters/minton.htm

A JC Oriental sherd. Joseph Clementson, circa 1850s. It would have originally looked like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186907264126

A tiny opalite

Part of a pork pie inkwell.




And in the second picture:

Another piece of an old Fanta bottle

A Bailey and co sherd:

The Fulham Pottery dates back to around 1672, when it was founded by John Dwight.

Bailey and Co were in operation there from about 1864 - 1889, run by Charles Bailey.

In 1889, they were fined for emitting smoke.

Today, you can still see the bottle kiln from the Fulham Pottery on the site and it is a Grade II listed building.

--

A rather rusted blue Mickey Mouse purse. Similar style one here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/389226667721

An SW Dean sherd. They were in operation in Burslem from 1904 - 1910.

A pink bicycle bell.



And in the third picture:

A pair of sunglasses

A green bottle

An R Whites bottle, found by a fellow mudlark.

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