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Mudlarks at the museum
A knitted Tudor hat (below), a Viking Age blade bearing the name of its owner, and a set of 18th-century dentures are among the artefacts that will be on display in an upcoming exhibition announced by London Museum Docklands.
Secrets of the Thames: mudlarking London’s lost treasures, which is set to open in April 2025, will be the first major exhibition to explore the history of mudlarking. This was originally a trade practised by the poorest members of Victorian society – including many children – who scoured the Thames foreshore hoping to find things that they could sell to support their families; today it is a popular hobby for heritage enthusiasts, licensed by the Port of London Authority.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to share insights from modern mudlarks, learn about how their finds are recorded and researched by museum staff, and explore the stories that these objects – many of them on public display for the first time – can tell. Items on show will include toys and tobacco pipes, an early Bronze Age arrowhead, a pair of medieval spectacles, and a 14th-/15th-century pilgrim badge decorated with phalluses.
Please note that all mudlarks on the River Thames must have a valid permit from the Port of London Authority (see https://pla.co.uk/thames-foreshore-permits); all Thames foreshore finds belong to the Port of London Authority; and all finds 300 years old or older must be reported to the Finds Liaison Officer based at the London Museum (see https://finds.org.uk/contacts).
Secrets of the Thames: mudlarking London’s lost treasures will run at London Museum Docklands from 4 April 2025 until 1 March 2026; see http://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/newly-announced/secrets-thames for more details.
Restored Bronze Age jewellery on display
An early Bronze Age necklace and bracelet, painstakingly restored by experts at National Museums Scotland, has gone on display at The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum.
When 42 jet beads and nine jet ‘plates’ were discovered within a Bronze Age burial at the former Balgay Estate, near Dundee, in 1870, they were thought to belong to a single item of jewellery. However, recent work by Dr Alison Sheridan, Research Associate at National Museums Scotland, has revealed that they in fact represent a matching necklace and bracelet set. This analysis has allowed conservators to accurately recreate 66 unique missing beads and restring the jewellery, restoring its original appearance for the first time in 4,000 years.
National Museums Scotland have loaned the necklace and bracelet to The McManus with the support of players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and the artefacts are now on display within the ‘Landscapes and Lives’ gallery, which explores the experiences of people in the Tay Valley from the Mesolithic period to the Iron Age. See https://mcmanus.co.uk for more information about visiting the museum.
New exhibitions
Medieval Women: in their own words
British Library, London
25 October 2024-2 March 2025
https://medievalwomen.seetickets.com
Money Talks: art, society & power
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Until 5 January 2025
http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/money-talks-art-power-and-society
Post-Tudor Artefacts
Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
Until 30 November 2024
http://www.maryrose.org/events/post-tudor-artefacts
Streic! 84-85 Strike!
National Museum Cardiff, CardiffÂ
26 October 2024-27 April 2025
http://www.museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/12346/Streic-84-85-Strike
Last chance to see
Field Walking
Corinium Museum, Cirencester
Until 13 October 2024
https://coriniummuseum.org/event/field-walking
Shipyard Social
Scottish Maritime Museum, IrvineÂ
Until 13 October 2024Â
http://www.scottishmaritimemuseum.org/exhibitions/shipyard-social
