Lara Maiklem FSA - The London Mudlark
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londonmudlark.bsky.social
Lara Maiklem FSA - The London Mudlark
@londonmudlark.bsky.social
Found in the Thames by mudlark Lara Maiklem, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and bestselling author. NEW BOOK OUT NOW: https://bit.ly/3WqTsyu
Pinned
MY NEW BOOK IS OUT NOW!
Available from bookshops and all the usual online outlets. Link in my biog.

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Day 5: Now for the Science, Part 1. Join me every day this week to follow this early 19th century shoe’s journey to conservation.

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April 4, 2025 at 6:30 AM
In @financialtimes.com this week, my guide to how, when and where to mudlark on the Thames…

There’s more in my Field Guide to Larking, available from wherever you buy your books ☺️

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@bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social
April 4, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Can anyone help me ID this? It’s iron (magnetic), I think it’s cast, could it be some king of cannon shot?

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April 1, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Join me every day this week to follow this early 19th century shoe’s journey to conservation.

#mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
April 1, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Join me every day this week to follow this early 19th century shoe’s journey to conservation. #mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
March 31, 2025 at 2:34 PM
A pocket knife with a copper handle (or the bone/ivory/wood/horn scale is missing), late 18th to early 19th century. Found by eye on the Thames foreshore.

#mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
March 29, 2025 at 8:25 AM
14th/15th century pewter buckle plate. It would have had a separate buckle frame attached to it and is probably a cheaper copy of the more upmarket copper alloy or silver versions that were produced at the time.

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March 28, 2025 at 8:17 PM
“Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone…”

(You never know what you’ll find on the Thames foreshore)

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March 27, 2025 at 7:54 AM
What a beautiful day to be beside the river…

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March 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Nigh on 250 years in the mud has created the most beautiful iridescent patina on this tombac button.

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March 23, 2025 at 9:07 AM
An odd ball find today (found on my local beach yesterday), who can tell me what this is… top marks for the best answer 😉

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March 22, 2025 at 8:08 AM
16th cast copper alloy decorated lock plate, or escutcheon, as found on the Thames foreshore. It looks as if it has been prised off the box or casket it was originally attached to.

If finds could talk, I’m sure this one could tell a tale or two.

#mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #Mudlarking
March 20, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Lost tools. I find a lot of tools in one particular spot, where boats were repaired from the 18th century well into the 20th.

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March 18, 2025 at 8:35 AM
March 16, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I don’t think this is the jaw from a pike, I think it’s a zander, a member of the perch family with the predatory feeding behaviour of a pike.
1/

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March 16, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I found a spotless die. I assume it’s unfinished, lost, dropped or for some reason thrown away before its maker drilled the little dots onto its sides.

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March 15, 2025 at 8:22 AM
This stunning gold toilet case with tooth-pick and ear-pick dates from around 1600 and is in the British Museum’s collection.

Next to it is the unhallmarked silver version I found on the Thames foreshore is a poorer man or woman's version of it.

#mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
March 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The first glutinous glob of frog spawn, lamb’s tails, bursting buds and primroses. Spring has crept into my favourite wood.

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March 13, 2025 at 8:17 AM
I’ve found hundreds of raw garnets on the Thames, so far at four different locations. Some have been quite big, but none as large as this whopper. They are not native, so how did they end up in the Thames?
1/
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March 12, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Not a particularly old sole, perhaps 100 years or so, but real treasure. Just look at those patches and the metal studs on one side where it wore down quicker. It’s as personal as a fingerprint and spine tinglingly evocative.

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March 10, 2025 at 8:31 AM
It looks like a hand blown bottle, but it’s an unusual shape, does anyone known how old it might be and what it could have held? #mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
March 8, 2025 at 9:55 AM
When a random piece of broken pottery leads you down a rabbit hole to a whole new world of medieval face jugs.
1/

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March 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
When a random piece of broken pottery leads you down a rabbit hole to a whole new world of medieval face jugs.

#mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
March 7, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I rarely use electrolysis to clean my finds these days, but when a coin’s as encrusted as this one it’s the only way to find out what it is.

It turned out to be a knackered 17th century trade token, issued by E.B AT THE GEORGE IN GREENWICH

#mudlarkingfinds #mudlark #mudlarking
March 4, 2025 at 8:32 AM