I always wanted to know more. So When I saw this book, I initially thought it was about these Victorians. It turns out that Ms Maiklem is a very modern mudlark, but that didn't make the book any less fascinating - moving from the tidal head of the Thames to the Estuary, she describes what she finds on the foreshore and tells fascinating stories about the people who lived, worked and died on the river, and whose lost possessions the tides still erode out of the mud. Apparently Tower Beach was a great success and in 1935 approximately 100,000 people came to 'holiday' beside the Thames. What a sight this must have been. Want to try London’s coolest new hobby? Mudlarking is the quirky riverside activity that Londoners will love – provided you don’t mind getting a little muddy. I wish I could say more than that. On paper, this should be right up my street. It's the kind of fun micro-history that covers a nice range of time periods and is filled with fun factoids that I would normally love, but for some reason it's missed the mark. Maybe its the authorial voice? Maybe its the additions of autobiographical details that I don't care about? Maybe it was just that I didn't enjoy the audio book narration? I really can't put my finger on it, but my response to this book can be described as lukewarm at best. Lara speaks also of moment of the find. The care and preservation of artefacts. The best light and intensity of the search and how without that moments scan, hesitation, acquired skills objects might forever remain undiscovered or be shattered by one’s next step.

Hosted in Southwark Cathedral in celebration of London mudlark Lara Maiklem’s recent book, A Field Guide to Larking: Beachcombing, Mudlarking, Fieldwalking and More (2021), the event displays a number of found treasures. Firstly, whereas riverbeds in locations like Cardiff, Bristol and Newcastle can be dangerous due to the dense mud – which you can sink into and drown in, since it goes above your head – when the tide recedes on the Thames, it’s a reasonably gravelly foreshore, which is safer to walk on. It was a fairly dangerous occupation then, with broken glass, raw sewage and even the corpses of animals or humans known to wash up. You'll get the chance to meet some of London’s mudlarks, as well as see their personal collections, here. Thames mud is anaerobic – that means there's no oxygen – so things that fall in thousands of years ago just wash up in the same condition that they were dropped in many years ago.”

I still have little interest in metal-detecting but the sense of being so close to the soul of the river, teasing out its bounty by effort and a good eye and reconnecting the present with the past has a value beyond the items themselves. In summary, I adored learning more about the history of the River Thames, I was gripped by every item the author discovered and researched but I could happily have done without the memoir aspect with no sense of loss at all.

This was the opening book for me for our NI 2020/2021 Book Voyage. Thanks to our NI friend, Susan, who says to us "I hope everyone enjoys this look at London's past" - I did! What a wonderfully personal choice! As it is a non-fiction historical journey, I read it while reading other books hence the length of time it took me to finish it.What makes this book so special is Lara’s writing and insights. She has that wonderful ability to let her mind wander, way beyond the present, and we follow in her imagination the provenance of her finds. Making up scenarios for how the objects came to be in the river; they have been preserved by the mud and spotted on the foreshore. Participants are advised to wear sensible footwear and gloves, carry a mobile phone and not go alone.

I feel my knowledge of the history of London has been deepened and enlarged by her comments on these objects, the riverside locations and ultimately the Thames itself. Trigger warnings: mentions of war, death, drowning, descriptions of dead bodies etc. I think that's all? There's one scene where Maiklem discusses how she once had to call the police because two drunk men started following her along the mud flats and she feared for her safety but nothing actually happens. This is a wonderful idea since modern day scavenging isn’t for coal, food or items just washed into the river but a history lesson and more akin to river archaeology. The type of mud under the river and fact that the area’s been home to civilisations for so long also means that there’s a lot to be found there.

It is a real pleasure to read. In all these endeavours and historical asides she reveals more of herself and her journey into collecting things the river offers. One of my favourite finds from the book was the legend of the Doves Type. A bookbinder by the name of Cobden-Sanderson tipped 500,000 pieces of lead type into the river at Hammersmith. Following a dispute about the ownership of the type with Emery Walker, he bequeathed the type to the River Thames between 1913 - 1916 and mudlarks have been searching for them ever since. Such a fascinating story. The practice of combing exposed riverbeds for lost treasures, termed ‘mudlarking’, is becoming increasingly popular thanks to social media. Another thing that irked me was her belief that a portion of the shore had been taken away from her. When telling the reader about nets of stones placed against the river wall in Greenwich in an attempt to prevent erosion, she says: Mudlarker newbies can get a ‘standard’ permit, which is valid for certain locations west of the Thames Barrier up to Teddington.