A Chilling Tale of a Frozen Corpse - Mudlarking the River Thames with Nicola White

Hi everyone there's a really Dickensian  feeling to the foreshore today   i've just come down here the tide is on the way out and you can see the mist rolling off   the water it's just such a great ambiance, a lovely atmosphere - a little bit mysterious   so i'm going to see what i can find and  i'm also going to add in a few finds from   previous outings so this is going to be a little compilation and i hope you enjoy it now literally as soon as i got down here  i just saw something over here and i still   don't know if it is anything  yet or if it's just a non-descript   piece of metal it's just  down here so can you see it it's that that i'm looking at and i don't know  what it is yet it might be absolutely nothing let us go and see i'm going to pick it up oh yeah it is something look look it could  be part of a religious offering actually   i'll pop it in my bag and we'll  take a closer look at it later on   it's very very thin and very delicate but it's  probably modern but of course i could be wrong i've just seen a really pretty marble over there it's just down here can you see it there it is it's a nice one isn't it lots of nice colors in there that will make a nice fish eye it's rather cold this morning that kind  of cold when your fingers go very numb   so i have to avoid putting my fingers  in the river too much if at all possible bit of stem there's a tiny little find down here just down here look can you see it just here the tiniest little  button oops lost it again now where did it go okay now it's a case of seriously   spotting the find because i can't even  spot oh it jumped all the way over here so easy to lose things you  know if you drop them again you reckon i got something do you you think you're in luck   i'm searching for little bits of pottery   to make cards and i've just seen something  down here which is made of pottery and it's piqued my interest can you see what i'm looking at? it's just here it's actually a  little torso it's a shame that   the head and the bottom of the legs are missing it looks like it was uh some form of  little frozen charlotte a little victorian   doll and i've said it before in a  previous video if you look up the story   of the frozen charlottes you'll  see where that that name came from well guess what i've just spotted i think  our first christmas present wrapped in   mud i've had a little look and unless  i'm mistaken there is you guessed it a clay pipe down there i can see what i think is  the rim of the pipe just down there see it it could be a shell but i've got a good  feeling about it the question is will it be   a fragment of bowl will it be a whole bowl  will there be a stem look there you are see   i don't know i'm thinking the way it's moving  it might just be a bowl there it is i always   like to savour that "not knowingness" here it is  and will there be anything on it as well will   there be a little design let's have a little feel  that's cop a feel yeah do you know what there is   and could be a royal antediluvian order of buffaloes pipe. whatever it is there's no stem   and let's see here there might be no design on  it whatsoever there is and uh oh yes i was right   it's like brail on the pipe bowl yeah it's an  RAOB pipe bowl okay well that's pretty good   that's a first little christmas gift let's give  it a rinse so that you can have a proper look   at the little buffalo horns that i could feel  going around the bowl yeah here we are look it's   really black and it's going to fade but you can  see the buffalo horns curling up like a moustache   and along the top there R-A-O-B which stands for  and many of you must know this by now one of my   favorite little phrases to say the royal  antediluvian order of buffaloes buffs for short founded in about 1820 a fraternal organization  a bit like the masons but it was uh   it was founded by artists mostly so there we go  first little bit of history to pop up this morning   i've got a variety of these  and some of them have the full   buffalo head and i absolutely love  those this one's just got the horns look i just saw another bit of pipe stem and this  one it doesn't have a maker on it but what it does   have is a merry christmas on that side and new year so a merry christmas and a happy new year   clay pipe from the river thames how  cool is that i tell you these clay   pipes some people think they're boring but  they're really not what's this it's a stone   there's my little crow friend over there  but he's not too sure he's torn between taking his breakfast and worrying that i might  have ulterior motives but i can assure you mr crow   i don't want to hurt you mmm nice muddy bread don't mind if i do okay well i've just seen something  down here to investigate i'm going to   just pan over the area see if you can see it it's just there look it looks like  the edge of a coin poking out i   hope it is a coin and i hope it's not a modern one okay well it looks kind of let's say   like it might have nothing on it at  all let's just give it a little wipe ah it's a false alarm it's just a round plain disc  no doubt used for something but not a coin anyway but i did see something under this  rock here what is that can you see that what's this oh that's pretty   well that was something at one  point wasn't it it's very delicate it's uh something decorative and it's very  very um delicate so i'm not going to attempt to   wash it here although i'll  just give it a little dip i'll clean it up when i get home how curious that  is and it's nice that it's survived doesn't it   it's really cold at the moment and all the birds  are very very hungry pigeons swans seagulls crows ducks now i've just seen something over here it's broken but still   it's always nice to find one of these  it's just next to the glass can you see it look it's a ring well at least it was a ring  and unfortunately the gemstone has fallen out it's quite small and delicate isn't it i'm sure that would have  been really nice at one time lovely now over there i've just seen a pipe bowl see if  you can see it i'll go over there very very slowly and you might even recognize the design on it it's just down there in the  middle of the screen you see it here it is nestled in between this bit of old  leather this brick and here it is and it's um   yeah it's a nice uh masonic pipe bowl a little bit  cracked got a few nice masonic symbols on there very nice actually this might be a good opportunity  to show you a pipe bowl i found yesterday   when i was out with Mr Si-finds and i also  found some really nice pieces of pottery so   i'm just going to show you those now great well today i'm down here with rich and Si. there they are waving we have come out with   Si's incredible ladder that he can pack into his  bag. It's a telescopic ladder that's right and   anyway it's looking really good down here there's  lots of bits of pottery there's a good sign look at this lovely shard of pottery here  with victoria on it it's gorgeous I was just going to show Nic my star  find and she just bends down and picks up   a pipe right beneath my feet yeah look with  the prince of wales feathers i'll tell you   what you are like i said before you are  a pipe magnet or the pipes magnetise towards you yours and over here there is a rather resplendent  boar's tusk look at that that's really nice that could well have been on somebody's table  years ago a boar's head with an apple in his mouth well i've been doing a little bit of  detecting this morning but i haven't   found a great deal so i put the detector away  and look at this gorgeous piece of pottery it is part of a toothpaste lid something about the breath probably something like sweetifying purifying   the breath but that's gorgeous isn't  it just look at that a lovely lid i'm very pleased with that now there's a massive jawbone look at that from a horse i should think and i've just found another really  cute piece of pottery here look   part of a little cup by the looks of it and it  has on it b is for buffalo it's got some little   buffalo feet little buffalo trotters at  the bottom there isn't that beautiful   b is for buffalo c is for cow d is for dog e is for elephant f is for frog g is for goat so I nearly filmed myself being  knocked out by a ladder!! wow just look at this beautiful view just  look at that isn't it stunning it's so pretty so pretty when all the reflections  are like that isn't it so calm wow i've come out for a new year's day walk i'm going to do my roundup i've just seen a   really perfect piece of wood  over here look it's like a frame I shall go down on this slippery seaweed to pick it  up hopefully i won't tumble into the river   here we are look oh that's  nice isn't it look at that   well it's actually a door but it  will double up nicely as a frame okay back up over the perilous seaweed hi everyone  thank you very much for watching and first of all   i'd really like to wish you all a very very happy  new year a very happy new year 2021 and i hope   that it brings you much treasure hope promise and  joy and all those good things let's really hope so   i've come out for a new year's day  walk today as part of my daily exercise   and it's really quite cold but it's just so  beautiful and i've been treated to some beautiful   displays by the little wading birds and ducks  and geese so i'm going to show you some of that   but i thought i'd do a little roundup whilst  i'm here and it's quite a suitable theme that   it's a bit cold today because i'm going to talk  to you first about that little little ceramic   part of a doll that i found that little torso  which is actually part of a frozen charlotte so   called because it's linked with a folk story about  a girl named charlotte who was frozen to death   unfortunately i'm going to tell you about it in a  minute. what with last week's christmas video   all about murder bottles and now we're talking  about frozen corpses it's a bit unfortunate   really but it's an interesting story so let  me tell you about it so here we have this little   frozen charlotte here it's a little tiny ceramic  torso part of a doll they originated in germany   actually in victorian times and when they became  popular it also coincided with this popular folk   story of a young lady named charlotte who  unfortunately didn't listen to her mum she   was on the way to a new year's ball and she had a  beautiful dress on and she wanted to show it off   so she didn't want to wear a coat on the open  horse sleigh that she was being taken there on by   her beau who was called charles and so she ignored  her mother's advice she wanted to look good she   got onto the sleigh went through the snow and the  freezing weather to the new year's ball but when   they arrived charles noticed that there was no  reaction from charlotte and then he realized that   she had actually perished from the cold there's  a poem that was written about it and a song   it was a very popular folk tale back in the 19th  century and the moral of the story was don't be   vain and also listen to your mother and so as  i was saying because these little dolls were   becoming popular at around about the same  time and they are like little tiny corpses   they were named frozen charlotte's and i  actually have quite a few of them and the   one i found obviously the other day is not  complete but they varied in sizes they were   also put in cakes for people to find at christmas  i think and so here is one of my complete ones   and then i have another one here which is more of  a bisque one and then i have a tiny weeny one here   i'll put some photographs up on the  screen but this one probably was in a cake   but there you have it that is the tale of  the frozen charlotte the little girl who   the the older girl should i say probably a bit of  a rebellious teenager who didn't listen to her mum   went to the new year's ball with her beautiful  dress and froze to death so there you are in   terms of finds and stories behind the finds after  the murder bottle and the frozen corpse i think   we can only get better so 2021 maybe this will  be the year that i'll find a complete bellarmine   who knows but we've got to aim high anyway let's  hope so that's frozen charlotte i hope you enjoyed   that little tale so we also have here a few nice  pottery fragments let's start with lovely top   of toothpaste lid and it really makes me wish that  we could go back to having toothpaste in ceramic   pots because why do we want to have them in well  why do we want to have our toothpaste in plastic   nasty tubes anyway there's just something so  much classier about um toothpaste in ceramic   pots i think and i've got a few beautiful little  pots that used to have toothpaste in them in the   victorian times and this one funny enough  actually originates from the us and it was   made by an X. Bazin i think that's how you say it  X.Bazin of philadelphia who also made perfumes   and cosmetics and it's a charcoal toothpaste  for purifying the breath so there we have it   absolutely lovely i just love the font on it  too so very very pretty i'm very happy with that we have this tiny piece here which i absolutely  love i think it's one of my favorite little shards   um you can just see all those people  sitting on the tiny weeny little   train carriage and makes you want to hop into  the shard and find out where they're going it's   got victoria written on it and it's really rather  perfect i may have to get that made into a little   necklace or something so we've  got that if you think you know   which plate or which pottery design  it came from then please let me know we've also got this little tiny shard here looks  like there's some kind of dancing going on so   that's kind of fun and we have this one here part of an  old cup i think with b for buffalo   again it would be nice to see the whole design  probably a nice little buffalo on there and of   course b for buffalo is also linked to one of my  other finds from this video which is the royal   antediluvian order of buffaloes we didn't get away  without a few pipe bowls in this video and indeed   we have got a lovely little RAOB pipe bowl there  as well as also another little masonic pipe bowl   and b for buffalo well we can also have b for  boar because one of my other finds is this rather   resplendent boar's tusk which i was very very happy  to find and it also kind of fits in with the theme   of christmas and new year's eve feasting because  during tudor times especially wild boar was   particularly popular henry viii he absolutely  loved to go hunting for wild boar and then he   would have it served up at christmas to show his  prowess and masculinity when the ball came in to   the fanfare of trumpets and and goodness knows  what else and everyone sat down to have their   wild boar with the apple in its mouth it was the  real centerpiece of the table very very lavish   particularly eaten at christmas and it was hunted  to extinction in the 17th century in britain   so that's my boar's tusk what else have i  got um ah this little tiny piece of metal   a picture of which i shall put up on the  screen i have no idea what it comes from um   it does look as if it could come from some kind of  religious offering maybe but if you think you know   please let me know so some nice little fragments  of history to finish off the year and i've got   to be honest um it hasn't been easy recently  to get down mud larking um because obviously   of the current situation and also the boats aren't  running again like last time which means that that   silt is gradually building up again and so  covering up the finds but they'll be there   when everything gets back to normal and we'll  be able to get back down again and search the   river thames and find some interesting objects it  could be that i do a little bit of mud larking in   my studio i think in the coming weeks and show you  some of the items which i found before i started   doing youtube videos i've got some footage in the  archives but we are getting down to bottle stops   and miscellaneous pipe bowls so i'm gonna see  what i can do i might do a few "best of" videos as well   but uh there we are that's what happens and um  hopefully this situation will soon be better and   the most important thing is that everybody is safe  and well and stays healthy now i was lucky enough   to see my son over the christmas holidays  and he is now going to give us a rendition   of hallelujah so i really hope you enjoy that i'm  going to show you a little bit of footage as well   from the river the beautiful birds and some  of the nature and wildlife from my walk today   and i'd just like to take this opportunity to  say once again a huge thank you to all of you for   your support during my youtube journey this past  year you're all such a fantastic lot and i've   learned so much from you i've learned such a lot  of the history behind my finds from your comments   and your advice and your emails and you're  encouraging feedback too i'm very very fortunate   to have such a very kind and encouraging  community of people on my youtube channel   so please take care everyone again i hope 2021  brings you everything that you wish for and   i'm sending you lots of love from here standing  next to the river in the cold take care over to   my son angelo for hallelujah and i'll be really  looking forward to seeing you again very soon so hello my mom's viewers  i'm using my mum's guitar so   it might sound a little bit  out of tune but it's Hallelujah   merry christmas love ya and happy new  year to everybody around the world peace

Channel: nicola white mudlark - Tideline Art

Views: 85,083

Rating: 4.9588814 out of 5

Keywords: mudlarking, uk mudlarking, london mudlarking, best mudlarking finds, mudlarking videos, mudlarking thames, mudlarking the river thames, best mudlarking, frozen charlotte, clay pipes, royal antediluvian order of buffaloes, nicola white, nicola white mudlark, nicola white mudlarking the thames, mudlarking in london, mudlarking in the uk

Id: vSoLO-Fqz-4

Length: 34min 36sec (2076 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021