Mudlarking

Bloomsbury 336pp £18.99

The Week Bookshop £14.99

“Grubbing around on your knees in in cold, cold, alluvial alluvial muck mu ck might might not not be be everybody’s idea of a great afternoon out,” said Neil Armstrong in theThe Literary Review. But for Lara Maiklem, few activities afford greater pleasure. For the past 15 years, Maiklem has been a “mudlark” – one of a band of amateur archaeologists who scour every inch of the Thames foreshore, searching for whatever “flotsam and jetsam” its tidal waters yield up. Over the years, she has amassed hundreds of objects this way, ranging from Roman brooches and coins,coins; clay pipes pipes; and Victorian Victorian shoe shoe buckle s buck les to more to more ghoulish ghoulish finds finds, such such as the as the loaded loaded chamber chamber of a of gun a gun and and a section a section of a of human a human skull. skull. She She has has even even spotted spotted two two bodies bodies in the in river. the river. Mud larking, Mud larking, for her,forher,isan is an“almost“almost meditative meditative activity” activity ”– a–way away to escape to escape the the city’ s city’ s hustle hustle and bustle, and to forge a link with its past. Blending memoir, social history and nature writing, her book is packed with “fascinating diversions and details”.

Mudlarking originated in Victorian times, as a way for the poor for the to poor eke out to eke a living, out a said living, Derek said Turner Derek Turner in The Spectator. in The

These Spectator. days, These it’ s a days ,“hobby it’ s rather a“hobby than a rather necessity” than a–necessity” though you–though will need you a will permit need to a permit do it, and to do find sit, and of finds historical of historical significance significance must must be be offered to offered museums. to museums. Having Having grown up grow non a farm, upon Maik le ma farm, Mai kl em took up took mud larking up after mud larking moving after to London, moving when to London, she found when she that found the river that provided the river a provided way to away re connect to reconnect with nature, with nature, said said Rosamund Irwin Ur win in in The The Sunday Sunday Times. But Times. that But doesn’ t that doesn’ t mean things mean are things “are always“always calm calm beside beside the the river ”: river ”: she she writes disapprovingly of the (mostly male) mudlarks who turn this “most gentle of pastimes” into a fiercely competitive sport. Unlike them, she forswears metal detectors, preferring to kneel with her nose inches from the mud.

Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames is structured like a stroll along the Thames, said Craig Brown in Thethe Mail on Sunday: each chapter centres on a different section of the river, and the objects Maiklem associates with it. In Greenwich, she describes finding a rich array of animal bones – remnants of the feasts held at Henry VIII’s Royal Palace. At Sheerness, she notes that the thousands of yellow-tailed scorpions that which live live in in the walls of the docks can be traced to 18th18th-century Italian cargo ships. Thanks to details such as these, this book is more than just a “list of discarded bric-a-brac”. Armed with curiosity and an “infectious love of linking the present with the past”, Maiklem has written an “engaging” guide to her unusual hobby.