Mudlarks ranged from the very young to the elderly. They were looking for lumps of coal, rope, bones, iron or copper – anything that could be sold. Mudlarks only did this to survive extreme poverty. The treacherous mud and fast tides made it a dangerous activity.
When scouring the Thames foreshore, they tend to look for items which personally interest them. Some mudlarks pick up colourful pottery sherds and white clay pipes, while others search specifically for metallic objects of all shapes and sizes.
Mudlarks would often get cuts from broken glass left on the shore. The income generated was seldom more than meagre; but mudlarks had a degree of independence, since (subject to tides) the hours they worked were entirely at their own discretion and they also kept everything they made as a result of their own labour.
Jeff Mudd then left the group as he was called to do National Service. He was replaced by David Lane (born David Burgess, 1938 – 2010), a compere and entertainer on the Manchester club circuit. The Mudlarks continued to release records until 1964, but had only one more hit – "The Love Game", a No. 30 hit in 1959.
The Mudlark is a 1950 film made in Britain by 20th Century Fox. It is a fictional account of how Queen Victoria was eventually brought out of her mourning for her dead husband, Prince Albert.
The abandoned jetty at Enderby's Wharf, Greenwich is mudlark and artist Nicola White's “spiritual home”; she has been searching the mud and shingle here for over 15 years.
Mudlarks ranged from the very young to the elderly. They were looking for lumps of coal, rope, bones, iron or copper – anything that could be sold. Mudlarks only did this to survive extreme poverty. The treacherous mud and fast tides made it a dangerous activity.
Anyone can make an application for a Standard permit, which costs £32 per day (£75 for three years). This allows you to dig to a depth of 7.5cm, but as a result of a recent clamp-down/clarification you need the permit even if you are only surface-collecting on the foreshore without any digging.
According to Henry Mayhew, author of the multi-volume London Labour and the London Poor, toshers made a good living, earning about 6 shillings a day, which places them among the top earners of London's working class during the Victorian Era and was enough for the 1 shilling entrance fee at Madame Tussaud's wax ...
The Thames has a relatively large tidal range and the foreshore is exposed twice a day, ready for mudlarks to see what the river has churned up. The Thames mud also creates anaerobic conditions and can preserve items for centuries.
Although cleaner than ever before there are still occasional spillages of raw sewage into the river after heavy rain so wear gloves as a precaution and wash your hands after mudlarking. I also recommend good, sturdy waterproof footwear (I prefer wellies myself) and ensure you're up to date with a tetanus jab too.
The Thames Steam Tug and Lighterage Company was set up in 1856 to support this increasing river traffic. In the 1920s the company established a yard at Lots Ait, in Brentford, where they built barges and tugs for freight on the Thames.
If looking for treasures along the River Thames in London sounds like fun, you may be a mudlark. Mudlarking is the romantic name for scavenging on the riverbank (also called the foreshore) when the tide is out.
The Magpie-lark is a common black and white bird with many different names. It is also called a Peewee, Peewit, Mudlark or Little Magpie. Its name Magpie-lark is also confusing because it is neither a Magpie nor a Lark. It is more closely related to Monarchs, Fantails and Drongos.
Mudlarks were often children, mostly young boys, who would scavenge along the banks of the River Thames, below London Bridge, and pick up chunks of coal that might have fallen from the coal barges, bits of old rope, nails, pottery and even bones, which they would then sell for a few pennies.
Mudlarking. Anyone wishing to search the tidal Thames foreshore in any way for any reason must hold a current foreshore permit from the Port of London Authority (PLA). Searching includes all such activities, including searching, metal detecting, digging, or 'scraping'.
White won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games and a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games. After making her international debut for England in May 2009, White has won a silver medal at the Champions Trophy and bronze medals at the World Cup, Commonwealth games, and European championships.
Mudlarking Ireland is a community of enthusiasts who explore Ireland's beaches and shores to find antique items, pottery fragments, and other treasures.
How does mudlarking on the Thames unlock London's secret riches?
Describing the tidal river as a “living time capsule”, the museum promised to tell the story of how generations of mudlarks have uncovered thousands of years of human history through finds ranging from clay pipes and false teeth to a Viking-era dagger and a medieval gold ring inscribed “For love I am given”.
