Mudlark is someone who scavenges in river mud for items of value, a term used especially to describe those who scavenged this way in London during the late 18th and 19th centuries.
What a sweet poetic word the mudlark is...at least to my ears. I fell in love with this word, the moment I saw it for the first time today (Nov 7th 2018) in the Pininterest email I received.
I am one of those romantics who can spend hours surfing the net on topics such as buried treasure, seaglass, antiques, etc. I can also happily spend hours searching for things of little commercial value in thrift stores than do 'something useful'.
I spent several happy minutes googling images under mudlark and fell in love with the stuff people found in Thames banks...old coins, porcelain pieces, glass, idols, cutlery. The dirt and damage of the river makes those objects even more interesting and romantic and valuable to me.
I wish I had known this term before I visited London. I might have mudlarked in the Thames myself for stuff! (... Actually I don't think I would have. I found London bitterly cold and I doubt very much that I would have touched the cold mud and waters of Thames)
One more thing...the mudlarking finds are amazing in photos but I think they would look messy and not so great in reality!
And mudlarking in Indian rivers will yield a million idols of Ganesha and Durga (Durga in Calcutta's water bodies).... I wonder what else we will find in Indian rivers...(Familiarity breeds contempt...grass is greener on the other side of the fence...ergo, I may not value finds in Indian rivers as much as I would value things found in Thames or Seine or any non-Indian river...human mind works like that!)
Here are links to articles related to mudlarking I enjoyed
https://www.messynessychic.com/2016/12/27/what-you-can-find-mudlarking-on-the-thames-foreshore-in-london/
https://www.glassingmagazine.com/articles/mudlarking-the-mystery-of-the-thames-garnets/
What a sweet poetic word the mudlark is...at least to my ears. I fell in love with this word, the moment I saw it for the first time today (Nov 7th 2018) in the Pininterest email I received.
I am one of those romantics who can spend hours surfing the net on topics such as buried treasure, seaglass, antiques, etc. I can also happily spend hours searching for things of little commercial value in thrift stores than do 'something useful'.
I spent several happy minutes googling images under mudlark and fell in love with the stuff people found in Thames banks...old coins, porcelain pieces, glass, idols, cutlery. The dirt and damage of the river makes those objects even more interesting and romantic and valuable to me.
I wish I had known this term before I visited London. I might have mudlarked in the Thames myself for stuff! (... Actually I don't think I would have. I found London bitterly cold and I doubt very much that I would have touched the cold mud and waters of Thames)
One more thing...the mudlarking finds are amazing in photos but I think they would look messy and not so great in reality!
And mudlarking in Indian rivers will yield a million idols of Ganesha and Durga (Durga in Calcutta's water bodies).... I wonder what else we will find in Indian rivers...(Familiarity breeds contempt...grass is greener on the other side of the fence...ergo, I may not value finds in Indian rivers as much as I would value things found in Thames or Seine or any non-Indian river...human mind works like that!)
Here are links to articles related to mudlarking I enjoyed
https://www.messynessychic.com/2016/12/27/what-you-can-find-mudlarking-on-the-thames-foreshore-in-london/
https://www.glassingmagazine.com/articles/mudlarking-the-mystery-of-the-thames-garnets/
2 comments:
Nice one 😊 Never knew there is a word for this activty
we should meet sometime. I am the writer of this blog but I have no idea how to give my contact information to you privately. Hope I recognize you if I pass you by someplace! Thanks for your comment. Regards. Bharathi
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