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Caroline N

@carolinenmudlark

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Licensed mudlark on the River Thames Foreshore. What a privilege it is to find these objects.

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Here’s a 16th century wire fastening loop emerging from some Tudor level mud and looking as good as it did when it helped keep someone’s clothes together 500 years ago. Some were found in a chest aboard the Mary Rose which sank in 1545 which gives a good timeframe for their usage.

We’ve tended to call them pin twists as they prove to be a handy way of keeping a collection of pins together, but the final image shows how they were used in pairs, a much cheaper method than using buttons.
And perhaps people also used them for keeping their pins together. There’s certainly one recorded on PAS @findsorguk holding a collection of pins.

It’s certainly the most splendid, shiny one I’ve found.

* and please read the comments below from @xonboy who has reason to challenge this ID from the Mary Rose team as there’s been no evidence of their use as such.. we just know we find a lot of them amongst the pins and hooks and eyes..* by @carolinenmudlark

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2 years ago

It’s taken 3 years and 3 months but this exquisite piece of worked, Tudor gold has finally come through the Treasure process and will hopefully soon be returned to me.

The third image shows it as found, just washing out of the mud one Sunday morning back in 2020, not a clear picture but my hands were shaking with excitement. I almost pulled out the stringy piece of what I thought was seaweed but luckily soon realised it was the thread which had attached it to the garment it had decorated.

The fourth image shows the report about it ; it’s over 300 years old and more than 10% gold so qualifies as Treasure. Luckily it’s been decided I can have it back. Had it been part of the Thames hoard of similar pieces all found in a specific area, the museum would have wanted it as there’s still much to learn about that collection, but as a stand alone piece, the report is enough and it’s now mine.

The 5th image shows my Tudor collection as of September 2020. Since then I’ve been blessed with many more 16th century objects including another piece of decorative gold, now over 2 years ago so still a while to go in the Treasure process.

Many thanks to Stuart Wyatt @museumoflondon and @britishmuseum.

You can all come and see it with my other finds at the mudlarking shows in 2024.. maybe I’ll have to get it a case of its own!

#riverthames #gold #16thcentury #treasure #londonhistory #londonmudlark by @carolinenmudlark

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3 years ago

This is me, exactly a year ago today, sitting on a rock by the river and examining this beautiful yet still mystery object that I’d just picked up from the surface of the foreshore.

A year on and we know exactly what she is because the great @geoffreymunn saw the post and immediately identified her.
She’s dated 1450-1550 and is a bone memento mori rosary bead, possibly discarded during the reformation when it became illegal to own and use such sacred objects. It’s been suggested that she’s a representation of the Virgin Mary but I prefer to think she’s modelled on a real medieval woman, who was known to the craftsman who carved her. I once read about the fact that the desecration of sacred sculptures and carvings and paintings during the reformation, meant that we’d lost all those images of real medieval people who’d modelled for the artists, so the few objects I’ve found with a human face on them, are the most precious of all my finds.

She’s been recorded on the @findsorguk PAS scheme, has been displayed in the Museum of London and spent yesterday in Southwark Cathedral, sometimes shocking visitors who were not expecting to see a skull on her reverse ( at one point I showed her to a lovely visitor who then showed me the words MEMENTO MORI emblazoned on their chest!)

It really is highly unlikely I’ll ever find anything else this significant, but like all of us who have the mudlarking obsession, I’m going to keep staring quietly at the foreshore in the hope that I do.

#mementomori #londonhistory #catholicism #rosarybeads #riverthames #virginmary #15thcentury #sacred #mudlarking #riverthames by @carolinenmudlark

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4 years ago

The 16th century ship navigates the choppy waters of the Thames towards The Steelyard (Stalhof) , the main dock of the Hanseatic league.

Watching my brilliant daughter create this magical trickery, I truly felt like Catweazle!Thank you ♥️ by @carolinenmudlark

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3 days ago

This was literally just dropped in front of me with the real possibility of it being picked back up by the next wash from an Uber.

It’s a glorious Ships Penny Jetton, a type I’ve wanted for years, since I watched Angela @up_for_a_lark pick one up one sunny morning, and saw the shiny beauty spotted by Liz @lizanderson2 . Check their instagrams to see.

These copper alloy Rechenpfennig (counting tokens) were made in Nuremberg for the French market, hence the fleur de lis that decorate the reverse.
The majority were made between 1490 and 1550 so they’re late medieval, and are significantly larger than the Rose Orb Nuremberg Jettons we find more frequently. And unlike the later Jettons which carry meaningful slogans, the legends on these are gibberish.

The beautiful ship illustrated is probably a Cog, a single masted, flat bottomed vessel used by the Hanseatic League for importing goods. This ties in perfectly with the idea of French traders in London, buying and selling goods in central London in the late 15th and 16th centuries.

* it’s necessary to have a licence from the PLA before searching the Thames Foreshore. The only alternative is going on one of the brilliant guided tours run by @thamesdiscovery ; they have amazing guides who nothing pretty much everything there is to know about London history * by @carolinenmudlark

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3 days ago

To mark my 8 years of a licence, here’s Thomas Becket, found in August, and some of my best cross and pellet tokens from over the years, the most recent by his right ear.
It’s such a privilege to find and caretake these ancient objects ♥️ by @carolinenmudlark

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8 days ago

8 years of having a licence and what a beautiful token to mark it.

We tend to call these Plantagenet lead tokens “pilgrim tokens” but I’m pretty sure this is mostly a misnomer as they served all type of functions. Many were Indeed ecclesiastical and carry an image on the obverse that confirms this ( I have a clear IHS ) but the majority show everyday objects, here, a cartwheel. Often they’re thought to pertain to merchants and trades, even as brothel tokens.

I now have a beautiful collection of these but the supply is slowing down ; this is my first this year and as you can see it was literally just basking in the sunshine, waiting to be spotted.
What a beauty it is, so pristine it could have been recently dropped.

* a licence from the PLA is required before searching the Thames Foreshore * by @carolinenmudlark

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8 days ago

How stunning is this! And what a lot of consideration of it has gone on over the last few months!

Firstly thanks to Peter @tidetravel_history to whom I immediately showed it and who knowingly said “fob seal”!
Then many thanks to the ever so brilliant and generous Alessio @london_madlark who took it away and cleaned it beautifully, and with Geoffrey’s kind help @geoffreymunn worked hard to see if it would open, which it sadly doesn’t, but I’m grateful to have had this confirmed (I SO wanted some damp snuff to be in it!)

So although all is not exactly as it might be, here is a stunning early Victorian Carnelian fob. I was desperate for it to open but it’s definitely not a box, so it must have been awaiting an attachment so a well-to-do gentlemen could hang it from his weskit pocket, perhaps with a watch, a winder, a seal or any other decorative item.

These were often engraved as seals for pressing into hot wax, but were often sold like this as beautiful stones to be admired in their own right, and sometimes to be engraved at a later date.

This is beautifully made, with a bevelled stone and a carefully chased back so we can only wonder why it was never fitted with the attachment (see the penultimate image for a very similar example) that would have made it functional.

But what a glorious object, and what a lovely community of friends that helped to identify and care for it 🙏🏼

*you can only search and remove items from the Thames Foreshore if you hold a licence from the PLA * by @carolinenmudlark

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10 days ago

Basking in the sunshine after finally washing out of the London Clay, this sharks tooth takes us back to the Eocene Epoch around 50 million years ago.
I’m usually only thinking about what it means for my objects to date back to the medieval period, so this is truly mind blowing.

So many thanks to our resident truly ancient things expert Sam @megasteg who generously identified this for me 🦈

*you need to have a licence from the PLA before searching the Thames Foreshore and removing anything from it. Also to read the info from the PLA regarding the rules of each area and understand which are the restricted zones. The North is “Eyes Only”.., scraping is permitted on the South * by @carolinenmudlark

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14 days ago

The tiny speck of silver in the film is yet another half penny from the reign of Charles 1, a half pennies worth of silver with a rose on each face.

It’s shown here with a coin that was once twice its weight (before clipping ), a penny and at the bottom , a half groat which was four times its weight when produced.

The penny fortuitously shows a 1 behind the bust and the half groat shows 11, very handy for when one’s imbibed an ale or two.

* you need to have a licence from the PLA before searching the Thames Foreshore and to know the rules of the area you’re in * by @carolinenmudlark

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16 days ago

Yes I took it home, and no, I’ve no idea what it is!

It’s made in two parts with old looking hand made nails below and screw nails in the top which I read were first produced mid 16th century then mass produced from 1760, but I don’t feel it’s very old.

I’ve really no idea about it but I really like it and it will be a great addition to my collection.

Any suggestions gratefully received 🙏🏼

* you need to have a licence from the PLA before searching the Thames Foreshore and to know the rules of the area being searched * by @carolinenmudlark

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23 days ago

These exquisite objects are the representations of altars from medieval pilgrim badges of Roods, which are crucifixion crosses (Anglo Saxon rōd pole or cross) .

The top is mine which I found years ago and which is thought to be from a badge of the Rood of St Paul’s. Although quite worn we can see the delicate cross hatching decoration and architectural details of the altar and a supplicant on either side in their flowing robes, the left sadly headless.

Below it is the more recent spectacular find of my friend Lorraine @lorraine_mudlark , of the alar at the base of the Rood of Grace of Boxley, which we believe belongs with the same badge fragment I found a few weeks before. Swipe to see the two pieces together, both found in the same patch just a few weeks apart.

Lorraine’s fragment shows such beautiful detail with a complete figure to the left, and includes the beginning of the cross itself which rises from it. The second image shows the two pieces together although I suspect my piece showing Christs left hand nailed to the cross, should be positioned slightly lower down.

The final image shows a bigger fragment taken from the marvelous book MEDIEVAL PILGRIM AND SECULAR BADGES by MICHAEL MITCHINER and to the left is another example of the altar which includes offerings to the shrine. The actual cross was quite brilliantly, an automaton which we both mention in our original posts, and the story goes that the figure of Christ would respond unfavourably (moving, weeping, expressing displeasure) if the monks felt the offerings were inadequate! Who’d have thought they could be so devious!

Needless to say, our hunt for further pieces of the beautiful ancient puzzle continues.

* you need a licence from the PLA before searching the Thames Foreshore and to observe the rules of the area in which you’re searching * by @carolinenmudlark

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a month ago