Farewell to mudlarking passion

Well it's confirmed, I've lost the mudlarking bug. A few months ago I got up at 5am to catch an early low tide. Showered and dressed, suddenly the prospect of spending a few hours closely scanning patches of mud and stone was no longer more attractive than a few more hours in bed. On that occasion bed won out and back upstairs I went. 

Last week I'd failed to tempt my husband on a day trip, so was consoled with a mudlarking trip, family and art. I took along a huge bag of finds to return to the Thames.  As I descended to the stone filled beach I realised I'd left the bag on the train, so my first task was to ring the British Transport Police to try and avert an incident!

The water was much higher than I'd anticipated so I had to make my way precariously along a thin ledge with the Thames deep and lapping to the side. I conjured up remnants of balance and courage from my youth. Fortunately I didn't fall into the muddy murk. 

I was pleased to see Jason who manages to cover the foreshore in a flash and never seems to fail to spot the best treasures. For the next few hours I stooped and looked closely for the small and metal, but it's no good, I really can't spot them and spending hours with my head a few inches from the rubble isn't how I want to be spending my time. Perhaps if I struck lucky more often I would feel differently. It was the beach combing I loved, the gentle ambling along the shore, when pottery is your reward. 

Despite my grumpiness I did find a few nice pieces beginning with this magnified mouth end of a clay pipe stem, still retaining a bit of red from the red wax which would have tipped it. 

Mudlarking Find: Mouth piece of pipe stem with trace of red wax

I suspect this is a piece of Roman pottery. 

Mudlarking Find: Probbly Roman 

An oyster shell with what looks like a worked hole, for what purpose I do not know. 

Mudlarking Find: Oyster shell with a hole made in the middle 

Find of the day was probably this, one of the largest  and nicest delft pieces I've ever found, it's almost the size of my palm 

Mudlarking Find: Delftware

and an unusual piece of delft tartan style 

Mudlarking find:Tartan Delft

Half a Bartmann beard and growling mouth

Mudlarking find: Beard and mouth of Bartmann jug

Centuries old iridescent glass

Mudarlarking Find: Iridescent Glass 

A lead cloth seal , with my clumsy attempt to show the markings by wetting them. The top row is D O and second row Z and I think F and then 16 at the bottom 

Mudlarking Find: Cloth Seal 

Onto the more modern, a section of black clay pipe stem with lettering 

Mudlarking Find: Black Clay Pipe Stem with writing -C--MAU

This English stoneware, possibly a ginger beer bottle was made by Burton's Codnor park Pottery, so it must predate 1833,as the business went bankrupt in 1832 and was then bought by Joseph Bourne. 

Mudlarking Find: English Stoneware 'Codnor Park Burton Superior'

Pre- privatisation railway tableware 

And a few bits of flow blue and transferware which were all just too cute to leave behind. 

After almost 3 hours mooching along the waterside, I made my way over the Millennium bridge to the Tate, where I was to meet my clan. Each of us delivered via different nodes of our transport system, Blackfriars, London Bridge and Moorgate names rooted in centuries past. It was the third time I was coming to see Matisse. His cuts outs and paintings are so joyous they never fail to lift my spirits. A lovely morning was finished off with lunch looking across the Thames to St Pauls and the city. 

Matisse Cut outs at the Tate Modern Until 7 Sept 2014

It is rather sad that my passion for mudlarking is over, it was a wonderful feeling to be so enthralled.  My heart would start to pound with the first whiff of mud, as I wondered what I might find this time.  It has been a fantastic way of learning about London's history, without it I'd know nothing about ceramics and I'm delighted the different periods of history are now finally embedded in my head.  I shall miss being in the heart of London and beside the river so frequently, but I'm sure I'll return to mudlark every now and again.

I still have a few more posts to write, so the blog will trundle on for a bit longer and perhaps it will turn into something slightly different, depending on what my next passion is... 

Flying down the Thames

When one of my dearest friends recognised that the cancer she'd lived with for several years was finally not going to be kept at bay, she sent me a text saying she'd like to take me somewhere special.  

We share a passionate love of London and even after all those years of growing up, working and living here, it still fills us both with delight and awe. When she was first diagnosed with terminal cancer, I was determined to whisk her off to see all those London places she loves. Her blue badge and the amazing access our museums offer disabled people, meant we could take journeys through the layers of London, Edwardian, Victorian, Georgian to its crowded heart, a delight in itself. We wandered through the roman and medieval galleries of the Museum of London and drove across the Serpentine to park just in front of those giant edifices of Victorian collectors and slipped into the V&A and around its circle of fashion. There were trips to bluebell woodlands in the spring and talk of car journeys through Epping Forest's tunnels of autumn beech trees. But in the end we returned to what we'd always done together -  just sit and talk and drink tea and talk and eat cake and talk. It had been lovely going out and about together, but the real treasure is just being together in a simple way. So when I got the text, I replied with that. 

However, she plotted and the next time we met up she asked if I'd like to go for a trip in a helicopter along the Thames. Who could refuse that! Her daughter Suzanne booked the trip, to our amusement on Friday 13th. 

The first treat was our cab ride through London, passing old haunts, the winding back lanes of Hampstead, the grand Houses of St Johns Wood, the dense green of London's trees lining streets and spilling from parks, and its people - how good it is to see all those people. 

The heliport was right on the banks of the Thames in Battersea. All three of us had prepared ourselves for a slight disappointment, that it would be very hot, noisy, over in no time. But it started well - there were only three of us in a helicopter for six. As we rose up it felt like we ourselves were flying, just the best feeling. And then London appeared before us in all its magnificence and I mean the whole of London. That huge Crystal palace ridge which throughout my childhood had seemed such a physical barrier between the suburbs and 'London' was just a small wrinkle. The photos are not the best but I hope give some sense of the ride

London with the Thames winding to the sea. 

Higher than the Shard

 

The 02 and Thames Barrier as the Thames goes to meet the sea

Looking over to North and East London 

Docklands with the Thames at each side

Mudlarking Territory: Tower Bridge, and on right St Katharine Dock, Tower of London, the City, St Pauls....

The City with its new Skyscrapers, Walkie Talkie in foreground with cranes atop and diamond fronted Cheese Grater behind right. 

lt was better than any of us could have imagined. So - it's the cable car across the Thames next.

Surrey Hampshire Border Ware

Pottery continued to be made on the Surrey Hampshire Border, with Farnborough the main centre. Pottery produced in this area in the 16th -17th centuries seems to be referred to as Surrey Border Ware. 

The pottery is still buff coloured, but more refined.  Production techniques changed. The pottery was subject to two firings, the first to render the thinner vessels hard enough to decorate and a final firing after the application of glaze. 

In the mid 16th Century potters began to use a tougher type of clay. This together with improved firing techniques meant quartz in the form of sand didn't need to be added as a tempering agent to the clay mixture to add strength. Hence you can tell if you have the later shards by their smoothness and absence of 'black bits', as below

Mudlarking Finds: Possibly porringers and a Chafing Dish

Fine table ware began to replace the large utilitarian vessels of the medieval period, so another clue is form type. Potters extended their range to include these unfamiliar poetic names 'porringers',  'pipkins', 'chafing dishes' and  'fuming pots'. Porringers were used for foods which were eaten with a spoon and were often used to reheat food. 

Porringer 1550-1700 (Museum of London) 

Chafing dishes were portable heating devises. Hot coals were placed at the bottom and a dish balanced on the lugs to keep food hot. 

Chafing Dish 1550-1700 (Museum of London) 

Clear lead glaze began to be used which turned yellow when fired, in addition to the green glazes achieved by adding copper. The glaze on these 16th-17th century shards tends to cover the whole piece, usually the interior and is more uniform than the glaze found on medieval pottery. These examples include the edge of a large platter and a shard from a colander or strainer, another two new forms for the border potters. 

Border Ware Strainer 1601-33 (Museum of London) 

Other objects included money boxes,candle sticks, chamber pots and probably my favourite but not yet found, chicken feeding dishes. 

16th Century Border Ware Chicken Feeder (V&A) 

Germany was Europe's ceramic leader and at least one German potter settled in the Surrey Borders. This influence perhaps led Surrey borders to produce masses of tripod pipkins, a form popular in Germany. The characteristic small hollow handles are a reasonably common find along the Thames. A stick could be inserted into the handle to make it longer and of course less hot. Pipkins were placed on the coals at the edge of a fire and some recipes specified using an earthenware rather than a metal pipkin. 

Mudlarking Finds: Pipkin Handles 16th - 17th C

Tripod Pipkin 1636-1700 (Museum of London) 

Ellicksander Pottage.

Chop ellicksanders and oatmeal together,
being picked and washed, then set on
a pipkin with fair water, and when it
boils, put in your herbs, oatmeal, and
salt, boil it on a soft fire, and make it
not too thick, being almost boil’d put
in some butter.

 The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May 1678

When you scoop up one of these finds along the foreshore, it may well have come from a London which looked like this, 

Wyngaerde - Central London 1550 

This white pottery dominated London from 1500-1700 a period which saw London's population expand from  50,000- 600,000. It died out in the 18th century.  

Medieval Surrey Whitewares

I thought the mosaic might be a good way of ending this blog, but then I remembered my original intention -  to create something people could use to identify the pottery finds they found along the Thames foreshore, along with their back story. Essentially what I wanted but couldn't find when I started out.

The big gap in the blog is the old stuff. Unless you are an experienced archaeologist  I can't quite see how you can tell the difference between different types of old white or red earthenware pottery, so I've put off writing about it. A visit to the Museum of London's finds identification session organised by Thames discovery and the usual internet searching, have filled me with slightly more confidence, although I expect they'll be a few mis-identifications along the way - but here goes. 

The first clue is that most old stuff is characterised by green glaze. It was the first coloured glaze used in Britain, from the 11th century and achieved by adding copper to lead glaze. Not all green glazed ceramic is that old however, as it was in common use until at least 1700. 

The other clue is that certain 'forms' are associated with different periods, with jugs, cooking pots and storage vessels typical of medieval forms. Some venture the prevalence of jugs increased as wine became more available and popular.

If the pottery is white, it is likely to have been produced in Surrey, from 1240 in Kingston a Thames crossing point upstream, then from 1260 in multiple sites along the Surrey Hampshire border and from 1350 in Cheam. 

Pottery was produced in the Surrey Hampshire borders into the 17th Century. The medieval stuff is coarser with lots of 'bits' in the clay. Most of the pieces below have black flecks, which if you look closely are tiny pieces of quartz .  The finds below are are all from jug strap handles,  they were frequently adorned with stabbing or slashes which were practical as well as decorative, allowing steam to escape from the thicker sections of the jug thus preventing fracturing during firing. 

Mudlarking Finds:  Sections of Medieval Jug Handles 

Kingston Jug 1240-1360 (British Museum) 

Jug 14-15th C (Museum of London)

The green was used decoratively on jugs and the glaze was used inside pots to render them non porous.  

Mudlarking Finds

The last two finds are a decorative section with two different colours of clay, perhaps it formed part of a baluster jug similar to that below, a classic of the medieval period. The second is a frying pan or 'skillet' handle.  

Mudlarking Find 

Medieval Frying Pan Handle 

Medieval Baluster Jug mid-late 13th C (Museum of London) 

The white firing clay didn't occur locally and had to be transported by cart or by boat the 25 or so miles from the Reading Beds near Farnham. Most goods were wheel made although a few such as dripping trays were slab made.When finished they were most probably transported by boat along the Thames to London.  

These Surrey Whitewares were tremendously popular and gradually became the most common pottery in London between 1350-1450. This was a time of plague with the Black Death reducing London's population by half to 40-50,000. Subsequent plagues and famines suppressed population increase until the early 1500s. It was also the period of the Hundred Years war a dynastic conflict between English and French Kings beginning with England's Edward III. 

Edward III (Its about Time) 

Money was required to fund the war stimulating trade in woolen cloth, an export trade centered on the capital, promoting further expansion in both the size and wealth of London. Even in these difficult times there seems to have been both the means and desire for people to indulge in a bit of consumerism, which included purchasing whitewares from Surrey, luxury imports from Europe and for the boys at least poulaine, those pointy shoes, the height of fashion in 1380 and than again a hundred years later. 

Poulaine France 1468

There are few pictures of London from this period, but here is one I tracked down from the 15th Century with the Tower of London in the foreground and London Bridge behind

London from 15th C manuscript (British Library) 

and a reconstructed map of medieval London with its Friaries, markets (including Leadenhall, Poultry, Guildhall and Cheapside), early hospitals and the population of the waterfront by foreign merchants from Cologne, France, Bruges and Antwerp. 

Medieval London (medart.pitt.edu) 

Medieval Anthropomorphic Jugs

Whilst some hanker after pilgrim badges or coins, the find I'd probably be most delighted by is from one of these 

Face Jug 1270-1310 (British Museum) 

a medieval jug with a face on it.  I rather like the 'proper' term for these too, a right mouthful, 'anthropomorphic' - which in this instance means pots with partial or complete depiction of human bodies. 

1301-1400 (Museum of London) 

Apparently these jugs were very popular in London, the ones above were made in one of the main towns supplying pottery to London in the 13th-15th centuries, Kingston. They tend to be quite small around 12cm.  Most jugs depict men with beards and they often seem to be tugging or stroking them. Their meaning has been lost over time, I like to think they embodied some irreverent joke. 

Kingston Anthropomorphic Jug 14th Century (Christies)  

As I packed away my finds and sifted through the old stuff, I pondered over one piece of decorated green glazed medieval pottery. I worked out the decoration  would have gone diagonally - I wonder, could it possibly be one of those arms?...

Mudlarking Find 

14th C (MetMuseum)

Martincamp Ceramic Flasks

This broken bit of pottery has been on the blog before, but it wasn't until the finds id session organised by Thames Discovery earlier this year that I finally found out what it was. Nigel Jeffries from the Museum of London Archaeology immediately recognised it as the neck of a Martincamp flask, amusingly Nathalie Cohen from Thames Discovery captured the moment here., with Nigel animated in his enthusiasm and me all eyes and ears and geekily taking notes! 

Mudlarking Find: Stoneware Martincamp Flask

This stuff is named after the village of Martincamp in Normandy France, although it’s thought these vessels were produced across a larger area in northern France, allegedly just for export. Unsurprisingly it's a type of 'Normandy Stoneware'. 

The won’t stand up flask was made on a potter’s wheel. The neck was made separately and then attached over the crudely made hole in the flask as seen below, which I'd always been a bit perplexed by. 

The internal messiness is rather at odds with the rather polished outward appearance. 

Stoneware Martincamp Flask 1501-1600 (Museum of London) 

The flasks would have been covered in a wicker casing, similar to the bottle in Lubin Baugin's painting below ca. 1610–1663. Apparently they were used as water bottles by field workers and soldiers, slung over their backs using a strap attached to the wicker. It's surmised that a wicker base would have enabled the bottle to stand up. I wonder if the roundness of the bottle made it stronger, like an egg. At the very least a nifty design with no easily bashable edges and wicker padding to boot. They were also much cheaper than glass. 

Le Dessert de Gaufreetes, Lubin Baugin, ca. 1610–1663 (Louvre)

One of the 'signs' of a Martincamp canteen is the rings around the neck. Are these really caused by the imprint of the wicker or are they the potters throwing rings? As I finally cleared away my finds, which had crept onto every surface in the shed, I spotted what looked like another neck of a Martincamp flask, this time earthenware. Still, I suspect if not rare they are a fairly uncommon find along the Thames - but perhaps I'm wrong?

Mudlarking finds:  Martincamp Flask Necks 

There are apparently three diabetes type categories for these vessels (John Hurst 1986)

• 1475-1500 off white fabric often with buff surfaces and a flattened profile (Type I) 
• 1500- 1600 dark brown stoneware with a more globular form with one side slightly flattered and the other side breast shaped (Type II) 
• 1600-1700 earthenware usually a low fired orange colour, but can be fired to near stoneware and appear reddish orange. (Type III)

1501-1600 (Museum of London) 

So my type II from the beginning of the post was knocking around when London looked like this, 

Anton van den Wyngaerde 1543

the century when England was ruled by our most famous Monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the time of Shakespeare, the Spanish armada, and when potatoes came to Britain. It was the period when London became established as a great port which was accompanied by a trebling of the London population from 60,000 in 1500 to 190,000 in 1600, the average size of a London borough today. 

Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588, by unknown painter (English School, 16th century) Wiki