Surprising Treasures found in the River Thames? Mudlarking with Nicola White

stem there nothing on it unfortunately  but what have we got here there we are look a nice 18th century pipe Bowl now the last time this pipe   was in the world so to speak it wouldn't  have been looking at anything quite like the Viking Venus oh no it would have been  more galleons wooden sailing boats   so there you are look pipe see how the  world has changed since the last person who was holding you was alive yep  it's changed hasn't it a lot a lot   probably wants to go back in the mud so down here I just prised out a piece of  pottery and actually it's really pretty   it's got some lovely design on it we'll go and  wash it off but I think it's a man with a horse there we go I don't know maybe I'm seeing things just that it's a man doing something anyway further investigation is required eating something maybe not horse now I can see what looks like a  blade down here sticking out of the mud the question   is is there going to be a handle on the end  now there's the blade the unmistakable shape   of a knife blade now what have we got under  here you know we might be we might be lucky oh yes we are lucky look at that that is in  remarkably good condition it's either got a bone   probably bone I think yeah  it's not wood but look at that   an entire knife I'm not sure on the age but I  know a man who will. I'll be consulting Graham DuHeame he has donated lots and lots of his  found knives to the cutlers Hall   wow great find let's give it a little wash oh this is lovely I've got a beautiful knife at  home with some initials in it doesn't look like   this one's got initials but it's in remarkably  good condition look at that that's beautiful lovely if we're lucky there  might be a maker on there now look at these I'm not going to take them  but it's interesting isn't it these must have   been thrown in as some kind of ritual I suspect  candles tied together with some uh sort of Reed   type things but what ritual I don't know  there are so many votive offerings thrown   into the river by so many different religions so  finding things like that isn't at all surprising look now here's a heartbreaking bottle a lovely  flask with a cork in it but completely broken   what a shame but was there a name on the other  side Maybe should we take a look and see anyway   let's have a look turn it over oh no no there  isn't so at least there's that consolation but would have been nice to find that whole wouldn't it right well I'm here with my friend Kathy  and honestly I am kind of Green With Envy   because she has just pulled out of  the mud this absolutely stunning pot look at that don't drop it please don't  drop it no how did you feel when you when you   found that and what did you see first of all  it was just the little dots poking out the mud   and I thought oh that must be a bit of plate  or something I nearly left it I just thought   it was a bit of pottery and who is on there so  it's James B Palmer what's that eight and nine   lower Thames Street and 173. yes Old Kent Road  that is absolutely stunning I guess it was for   Jam or I'm not sure what exactly been in it  but that's absolutely beautiful that's the   absolutely I mean the adrenaline how exciting  oh absolutely brilliant I'm so pleased you must   be so pleased oh absolutely yes well done Kathy  well done Kathy that's that's really stunning so   I always check little bits of plain Pottery  sticking out the mud that is the moral of the   story I'll be doing that in the future thanks very  much for sharing that find with us you're welcome all right come along and see what  I've just spotted down here which   could be absolutely nothing can you  see what I'm looking at down there I'm actually looking at this because it just  looks doesn't it a little bit like the edge   of a ring which would be absolutely fabulous  if it was but it could equally be part of a   light bulb or something so I'm going to take you  along with me for the discovery what do you think it's definitely not a ring oh look  it is part of a light bulb darn I want to have a look at  this piece of wood down here a bit it just piqued my curiosity I'll turn the camera off while I'm extracting it  and I'll come back and show you if it's anything   interesting okay so as it happens it does look  quite interesting it looks like it might have   something to do with a ship - some kind of pulley  system you can see that rounded Edge there   which I think might be a sheave maybe there's one on the other  side as well there you see so um yeah that's what I think it is  see if I can clean it up a little bit   so we can see a little bit more  exactly what we're looking at cleaner already and what I think we're looking at are   definitely sheaves from a boat and these bits  here are probably made from lignum Vitae or   some kind of different wood than the usual  wood or the wood that's in the middle here I like that I do like that and look what I've also just pulled out of the  mud there was just the tiniest bit of metal   poking out so I gave it a  little tug and out came a hook now that is also rather nice  that is a resplendent hook I see the Honker there they are look now look what I've seen down here  now it looks like it could be a watch strap see if there's anything on the end of it oh look there is there is you know oh wow look at that it's not working but it's  definitely all there a little rinse well it says Rolex on it but I can't  believe it's a real Rolex that would be   kind of too good to be true wouldn't  it what about if I try and wind it up I can't do anything because  I've got my hands full wow well there's a find it would be amazing if it  was real but I suspect that it's probably not real okay further investigation is needed look down here I thought at first this could be a  ring but it isn't look it looks like a little lens the end of something the lens in it some kind of Maritime um instrument perhaps oh here we go look if you don't like pipes  you're not gonna like this segment of the video   it's a whole one well it's not whole  the stem would have been longer not long washed out of the mud I suspect and  a few more Tides dashing against these rocks   it would soon break up into pieces it's funny isn't it the people who smoke  those pipes years and years ago would never   have imagined that some strange lady would be  walking along picking them up centuries later but I suppose who knows what people  are going to be picking up of ours   in centuries time and getting excited about  it who knows we will never know will we that's a nice brick isn't it?! now I've just come across what looks like a lovely  piece of copper sheathing here which used to be   put onto the hulls of ships from the mid-18th  century to protect them from shipworm barnacles   salt and all sorts so I always take this I  absolutely love it I'm going to wash that   off oh I can see a hook here such such a clean  for sure such a clean foreshore this evening lovely ship's nail here getting  some beautiful nails as well   okay and as the Tide's coming in I'm not gonna  hang around to wash it too thoroughly because   I want to see what else there is! okay I will wash that  though yeah that's really nice copper and that's where they're  saying copper bottomed comes from   because when when the hulls  were coated with this they were reliable and   trustworthy and so when you enter into a deal  with someone and somebody says oh it's copper   copper bottomed that's where it comes from  that's a lovely piece of sheathing there oh now look over here we've got a slightly more  ornate pipe so a lot later than these previous   ones now this is a Victorian type probably mid  19th century and it's a rose and thistle design there's the thistle and there's the rose and  it's got that foliate design there of the seam   and it has a makes Mark there's  a w and what looks like a c   and you can see where it's been smoked  look it's all charred around the edge and as always I'll keep the mud in  there because you never know there   may be a little dottle of tobacco at the bottom we really have got some really nice pipe  specimens spanning All Through the Ages from early 18th to the mid 19th century here we have a very wet bedraggled little bird it's okay little bird come home with me and there goes the Sun hi everyone thank you very much for watching my  video I hope that wherever you are in the world   you're in good spirits and good health and that  your weekend or your week is going as it should   do which is really well I hope so here I have  in front of me a big pile of miscellaneous mud   larking finds as usual which featured in today's  video and so let's take a look at them and let's   start with the one which I'm sure you're all  wondering about and it is this rather garish   watch here which of course and I'm sure most of  you will probably have a guest it is not a real   Rolex as much as I might wish that it was it  isn't and you can tell by many reasons there's   no serial number on the back it's not working and  if it was a real one it would still be working it   would be water types the paint is kind of bubbling  off and so although initially I thought oh maybe   it could be real it isn't um it wasn't working  when I picked it up when I actually got it home   and started to wind it it did start working  for a while let's see if we can do it again   see if we can get that little second hand going  no it's not gonna play so anyway it's not real   so um who knows why it was thrown over the wall  maybe somebody was given it as a present and then   we're very very disappointed when they realized  that it wasn't real or maybe it was stolen or   I don't know maybe it was an offering who knows  but now I've got it here and I'm sure I'll find   something to do with it I'll probably make a  little assemblage with it and put it in a frame   do something Arty with it so that's the watch the  fake Rolex it was still quite exciting finding it   though for one moment the hair I thought oh a  Rolex maybe you can help me with this find here   it's a lovely piece of pottery  which has on it a little scene   now it does look like a person  feeding a a griffin or an eagle   I'm not terribly sure what it signifies maybe  it's a god feeding another God and I haven't   had a great deal of time to look it up to be  honest so if anybody out there knows what this   scene signifies or who these people are well what  this would have been in its entirety looks like   a little cup or a vars then please let me know  I'd love to hear from you in the comments below   sometimes it's um more intriguing to find  a piece of something a piece of pottery   because then you have that sort of challenge  to try and put it together and work out what   it really was rather than if you find something  which is already whole and there's no challenge   there's no mystery there's no intrigue  so here's a little Pottery challenge   I have here in front of me lots of bits of ship  so which bit should we start with here is some   copper sheathing lots of holes in it and this  would have been nailed onto the hull of the ship   in the mid 18th century the admiralty copper  bottomed their Fleet for a variety of reasons   but one of them or most of them rather are things  that would destroy the wood of the ship like ship   rot shipworm salt corrosion and also Barnacles  Barnacles could not cling onto this this copper   bottom and also it used to make the ship a lot  more streamlined and go faster through the water   and I've said it before I think in  a previous video that that is where   the saying comes from uh something that is  copper bottomed being trustworthy and reliable   I do have a few pieces of copper sheathing I'll  soon have enough to copper bottom my own boats   because actually I'm getting so many bits of boat  here I'll soon have enough to make my own boat   I've got this which you saw me extract from  the mud which is part of a wooden block pulley   got the wood in the middle here there would have  been wood on either side and then we've got the   sheaves which I believe are made out of lignum  vitae and we also have the hook to go with it   so there's the hook and would have been underneath  here with the Rope coming down attaching the hook   so part of an Old Ship certainly 19th century  I'd say now some of my favorite types of finds   to be honest these finds these um from Maritime  history I just absolutely love it recently and   I didn't have my camera at the time unfortunately  recently I found a big Dead Eye here which would   also been part of ships rigging I've got my little  pipe Bowl which features the rose and the thistle   it's quite a common design I've actually got  quite a lot of rose and thistle pipe bowls but   as I was getting them all together to have a look  at them I realized how different many of them are thank you always a pleasure to find these  fancy clay pipes the clay pipe makers back   in Victorian times were real artists I think  with the designs that they used to come up with um now Kathy as you would have seen found a  beautiful pot which I had thought was a a Jam   port or a marmalade pot but when I looked up JB  Palmer it's actually a James Barrow Palmer and he   was a salt Merchant in 1842 in lower Thames Street  and in Old Kent Road and actually when I started   to look him up I came across a court case which  was from the old bayley back in the 19th century   and I will just read you a little bit of it it's  somebody who was accused of stealing salt from him   so James Barrow Palmer who was actually giving a  statement says I am a salt Merchant and live in   lower Thames Street The Prisoner was a servant  of Mr Worthington who contracted to do my work   on the 21st of November he and it's Henry Jones  was entrusted with several Parcels of salt to   take to different customers and until the night  before last I believed it was one of those Parcels   that was stolen but I find that to be a mistake  the salt found upon him was not to be delivered   to anyone it was put into the cart without my  knowledge I only know this from his having it   in my cart and having no other property in the  cart but what was mine it is impossible to swear   to salt so all that sounds extremely complicated  and actually in the end Henry Jones was found to   be innocent or not guilty maybe he wasn't  Innocent but anyway he was found not guilty   I also came across a little piece in a newspaper  of the 19th century about James Palmer and his   um Venture into the production of vinegar as  well so I'll also put that up on the screen for   you to have a look at it's always fun looking  up these people on the shards that we find it   sort of brings their stories to life and  so there we are James Barrow Palmer and   Kathy well done on that find absolutely superb  and intact beautiful pot like that so yeah as   we said in the video always check those little  bits of pottery poking out of the mud and I'll   put Kathy's Instagram site on here as well  up in the corner Kathy's actually a Guernsey   mudlark from the Channel Islands and so if  you want to have a look and see what they're   finding out there in Guernsey then take a look  at Kathy's Instagram site and give it a follow   last but not least I want to tell you about the  beautiful knife which came out of the mud and a   big thank you to veteran mudlarks Graham Duheame and also Simon Moore for identifying it for   me now Graham cleaned up the knife and it came  out absolutely beautiful as you'll see from this   Photograph and it was also identified by Graham  and Simon as being from the late 17th century   which is amazing because I thought that it was a  lot later than that so to find something so old   and now to have had it cleaned and in such superb  Condition it's really very special I'm going to be   doing a video actually with graham at some point  in the not too distant future and he has found   some amazing objects old Tudor Keys knives and  spoons padlocks full bellarmine jars and he's also   as I mentioned briefly when I found that knife  he's also donated this beautiful collection of   knives to the Cutlass Hall in London and so it's  going to be very very exciting to interview Graham   about his mudlarking career and about some of  his finds so I think that that is about it oh   apart from the little little burb which is here  and who has been through the washing machine so   his little little top knot is looking a little  bit uh better than it was when I picked him out   of the mud and he joins the big array of tideline  art orphans on the orphanage shelf of my studio   and he's very happy because there's lots of other  little bedraggled birds and animals up there so   that is it for today um it's been a strange week  this week as you can imagine with the death of   the queen announced it's been very sad bit of a  somber mood but at the same time it's been lovely   to see so many people coming together United  in the grief for the the queen and I actually   went into London with my parents this week and  laid some flowers in Green Park very close to   Buckingham Palace and it was really moving to go  around and read the tributes to the queen and see   the cards and the pictures and see all these  people together thinking about her remarkable   life because whatever you may think about the  the monarchy I mean she did such an amazing job   and it's quite a historical moment really because  well being down there seeing all these people and   seeing the flowers and talking to people about  her because there's not going to be another   Monarch for a very long time who has reigned for   such a long time I forget exactly what it is  right now but yeah quite quite a quite a poignant week and I am going to travel into  London on Monday I may walk in I think along the   Thames path I'm going to walk in and go and see  if I can see some of the funeral procession and   I'll film as much of it as I can and then perhaps  I can share that with you in a an upcoming video   so thank you so much everybody for watching and  also for all your comments your suggestions your   feedback thank you so much too for the donations  which many of you have made to my Kofi account   I really really appreciate it and thank you  for all being you that is the most important   thing I wish you an excellent week ahead and  I'm very much looking forward to seeing you   again very soon and I'm sending you lots of  love from here in London thank you bye-bye thank you foreign foreign foreign nothing foreign foreign

Channel: nicola white mudlark - Tideline Art

Views: 257,489

Keywords: mudlarking the river thames, best mudlarking videos, best mudlarking finds, nicola white, nicola white tidelineart, treasure hunting uk, treasure hunting london thames

Id: apFBSOQ-zIQ

Length: 35min 56sec (2156 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 18 2022