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Searching for finds in the mud along the Thames is a popular pastime for hundreds of people. If you're in London at low tide, you'll likely see many "treasure hunters" scouring the banks for London's lost history. But what was it like a few decades ago?
Recently, I had a chat with long-time mudlarker Graham duHeaume, who started treasure hunting in the seventies. Graham explained that back then, about a dozen people regularly met on the north bank of the Thames at Queenhithe, the oldest dock in the City of London, to search for hidden treasures in the mud.
Queenhithe Dock. Photo credit: Graham duHeaume
Queenhithe Dock is an ancient harbour dating back to the time of Alfred the Great and is now a protected monument. No disturbance of the foreshore is permitted there. Graham showed me some truly atmospheric photos of the Thames and his fellow mudlarkers and explained that the rules for searching in the mud were quite different back then.
Photo credit: Graham duHeaume
The Port of London Authority allowed them to dig holes back then, as long as they filled them in again before the tide came in. The "mudlarks" worked in pairs, with one person digging and one person sifting through the excavated material that came out of the hole.
Graham duHeaume in the 1970s
Among the photos is a great shot of Graham, taken in the 1970s in one of these holes, showing him with a Tudor knife he had just found. Years later, I'm here with Graham in the room where he keeps all his Thames finds, listening to his stories.
Graham duHeaume today
He tells me about over 1000 historic knives he found in the mud of the Thames, which he has now donated to the Worshipful Company of Cutlers in the City of London. They are displayed in a beautiful cabinet in the so-called Cutlers' Hall for all to admire. In addition to his knife collection, Graham has found many other extraordinary treasures.
One of my favourite finds he showed me is an 18th-century Georgian coin. It was polished completely smooth on one side and artfully engraved with a name and a date – “Mary Coombs – 1792”. Graham explains that it was probably given to someone as a token of love. “Why did it end up in the Thames then?” I ask him. “Well, Mary probably saw her beloved with someone else,” he replies with a laugh, “and threw the coin into the river!”
Photo credit: Graham duHeaume
Graham also owns a huge box of medieval keys he rescued from the mud. As I admire them, I wonder what they once locked away! We will, of course, never know, but it certainly fuels the imagination!
Graham will be exhibiting some of his amazing treasures from the Thames during the Totally Thames Festival, which runs throughout September. More information about the festival can be found on the Thames Festival Trust website https://thamesfestivaltrust.org.
If you want to go treasure hunting along the Thames, you need a permit from the Port of London Authority. Currently, no new permits are being issued. For current information, it is best to check the website from time to time: https://pla.co.uk/thames-foreshore-permits
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