Mudlarking on the Thames with CUT/HALF and HAMMERRHOID

[galoshers]

the London museum said that the copper may have leached out from the glass where it was included to give color ,but not conclusive .
for muddy areas i have a long metal probe on a fork handle ,its around 4 feet + long .
other MLs have even longer rods to probe in the mud .they used them when probing for roman pottery in the estuary near Rochester where there was a Roman pottery at Upchurch making black wares and then they dug up complete items from quite deep down.
so you can probe in the mud and when you get a dink on a bottle or some other item you know where to dig.
the 1/2 inch diam metal rod has groove along its length so it gets a soil or mud sample in the groove so you can see whats down there.


you could always start a Severn and Avon mudlarks society ! why not must be some good sites waiting

[galoshers]

heres a piccy of the silver spur i found ,the buckle is 17th century so that should place it in time despite the rowel being a solid lump of rust that couldnt be saved.  the rowel would have been large and spikey

so i was advised to go see the spur expert at the tower of london.
upon inspecting it she dismissed it as modern !!i was flabbergasted at her apparent incompetence.
i pointed out that the buckle is 17th , no 'she said its a modern nickle silver spur. !!
i came to the conclusion the Tower of London spur expert was totally clueless

(nickle silver wasn't invented till the late 1800s in Germany )

shocked at this i left ,i got a free day at the tower though.

Later on i took it back to the FLA at the London museum and after a few weeks was invited in to pick it up .

their opinion was it was 17th ok but it was made of LEAD !!!
(would anyone make a spur out of lead )

i was flabbergasted once  again at this disclosure . i pointed out that if it was lead you would be able to bend it easy but it was very stiff and unbendable.
this fell on deaf ears , and i could never find out who the cretinous ignoramus who said it was made of lead was .but just shows you cant trust the museums experts .

the hallmarks on the inside have been eaten away by corrosion and are indistinct to see what they are .
i found it in an area where there was a bridge of boats across the river during the civil war so i suspect it was lost at that time.

so its a warning never to trust the so called experts and get a 2nd and 3rd opinion
i have to get around to taking it to the V&A museum as theyre very knowledgeable in the metalwork dept.

quote

The Civil War

Putney is reknown for it's part in the civil war.  "In 1647, Cromwell, equally
jealous of the Parliament and of the king, who was then at Hampton Court, fixed
the head quarters of his army at Putney in order to watch their respective
movements.  The houses of the principal inhabitants were occupied by the general
officers, who, during their residence here, held their councils in the parish
church...     On the escape of the king from Hampton, on the 13th of November,
the army quitted Putney, after a residence of three months."6

The first bridge of any kind between the two parishes was built during the Civil
War after the battle of Brentford in 1642, the Parliamentary forces built a
bridge of boats between Fulham and Putney.  According to a newspaper article of
the day;

"The Lord General hath caused a bridge to be built upon barges and lighters over
the Thames between Fulham and Putney, to convey his army and artillery over into
Surrey, to follow the king's forces; and he hath ordered that forts shall be
erected at each end thereof to guard it; but for the present the seamen, with
long boats and shallops full of ordnance and musketeers, lie there upon the
river to secure it."

No doubt this bridge played some part in forcing Charles I to withdraw his base
to Oxford.  According to Wadford7 this bridge remained in use up until 1647 and
maybe later.

The benefits of such a bridge obviously impacted someone of importance as in
1671 a bill was introduced into Parliament proposing the building of a bridge
between Putney and Fulham.  Opposition to the proposal was strong, particularly
from those who saw the bridge as being a commercial threat to the power of the
City of London.  It was also felt that this bridge would (quite correctly)
impact the watermens trade.  The bill was lost by 67 votes to 54. The bill was
rejected again in 1688.  

[Chef Geoff]

Totally different type of mud I think if you step in the mud at Bristol you'll be up to your waist in no time, problem is the banks are sloping in to the water and silted so there is no "bottom" as such that you can walk on but there must be some forgotten areas on the Severn though

[galoshers]

i have no experience along there but maybe up the Severn could be ok but how far does the tide go out up there ??
it may not get exposed further up ,i dunno

[galoshers]

some roman black upchurch wares amongst this lot

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=roman+upchurch+pottery&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dr0yU82sDci00QW04IHABw&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1385&bih=740#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=fSaL7CFTcDimoM%253A%3BN6B8iAQdhknIfM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252Fe%252Fe4%252FRoman_pottery_from_Britain.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FBlack-burnished_ware%3B2304%3B1158

[Dale]

Totally different type of mud I think if you step in the mud at Bristol you'll be up to your waist in no time, problem is the banks are sloping in to the water and silted so there is no "bottom" as such that you can walk on but there must be some forgotten areas on the Severn though

I had a good old chat to a lorry driver about metal detecting and it turned out he was a local men from Berkeley, he told me when they dredge the Severn at Sharpness, you get the local hunters detecting the spoil........ he could not tell me what they find, but the area has plenty of history, so the finds must be coming out   

[Chef Geoff]

I did do a bit of research donkeys years ago in Bristol reference library (pre internet) about the regular dredging of the floating harbour by barge but I could never find out if it was dumped just outside at Hotwells or taken out in to the Seven.

[Dale]

my guess would be out to the severn? it was worth the research though.

Doing a little research now on the Severn through times it should be great detecting, just look at some of the finds. 

www.severnestuary.net/sep/pdfs/severnarchaeodesignguidefinal06.

[galoshers]

heres a few more items to look at

[galoshers]

more items

[Dryland]

Thats an absolute treasure trove, I love buckles

[galoshers]

heres a piccy of one of the old hands which appeared in the Sunday Times magazine many years ago ,Malcolm in the piccy died many years ago. he liked the south side of the river away from the crowds on the north bank

[galoshers]

after searching long i finally found a piccy of the gold and diamond ring my buddy found and bagged 20,000 for .
 24 but 5 diamonds on the bezel  they were big

paid off his mortgage on this find

http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/5514/finger-ring

[pontyboy]

Great find

[Dryland]

That has got to be the nicest ring that I have ever seen