The Emery Walker Trust holds online talk on mudlarking

The Emery Walker Trust is holding an online talk by Hammersmith “mudlark” Jason Sandy, after he donated some notable finds to the trust.

Mudlarking is a term that first emerged in the Victorian times, to describe children who would scavenge by the Thames for anything they could sell – from coal to rope to tools.

These days they are a more respectable breed – more amateur archaeologists than scavengers.

But they still scour the foreshore at low tide, hoping to find some item of worth revealed as the tide washes away the riverbed.

It was in this way that Mr Sandy, a member of the Society of Thames Mudlarks, found 11 pieces of the famous Doves Type, created in 1900 by Emery Walker and T J Cobden-Sanderson.

The two men were part of the Arts and Crafts movement and ran a printing press and book bindery near the river at Hammersmith.

Together they created a beautiful font for their books, based on a 15th century typeface designed in Venice.

Their relationship unfortunately soured, and in 1909 their partnership ended, with the agreement that Cobden-Sanderson would have use of the typeface until his death where it would be handed over to Walker.

But Cobden-Sanderson, feeling that Walker was not entitled to the font, had other plans for the typeface and cast the whole type, consisting of over a tonne of lead, off of Hammersmith Bridge into the river.

Mr Sandy said: “For over a 100 years it laid there in its watery grave and nobody was able to find any.”

Artist Robert Green recovered 151 pieces from the river during a dive in 2014, but this is the first time any pieces of the type will be given to the Emery Walker Trust.

Mr Sandy said: “It’s quite significant that this is the first time that the type is being reunited with some of the original books that were printed with that type.”

Mr Sandy began mudlarking nine years ago after seeing a documentary on the National Geographic TV channel.

He had spent a lot of time on the foreshore where he lived in Hammersmith with his two young children, looking at the rocks and the nature, but had never been aware of the history just below his feet.

The first weekend after he saw the documentary he headed down to central London to try his luck.

He said: “I found a few clay pipes and a few bits of broken pottery the first day and I was just over the moon – I was absolutely hooked.

And then ever since that day I’ve been going back.” What has kept him going back is the excitement of what he might find and the rare opportunity to discover a piece of history by himself.

He said: “I think it’s the thrill of the hunt. When I’m planning to go mudlarking a lot of times the night before I don’t sleep so well because I’m excited. And you always find something – there’s never a day where you come home empty-handed.”

In the years he’s been mudlarking, Mr Sandy has had some impressive finds, including a carved bone hairpin from Roman London that’s now on permanent display in the Museum of London.

He has also found a pewter badge depicting a boar – one of thousands made to commemorate the coronation of Richard III.

He said: “He didn’t last long, so I can imagine somebody changed their allegiance quickly to the new king and hastily chucked that in the Thames so as to dispose of any evidence that they were a supporter of Richard.

“It’s amazing to hold something that’s that old that has an association with one of the most interesting and intriguing stories in British history.”

The charm for Mr Sandy lies in the fact that normal people, as long as they have a permit, can head down to the river and find something historically significant.

He said: “I like to say that every object reveals a new story about London and its history and inhabitants.”

The virtual talk Thames Mudlarking: London’s Lost Treasures is at 3pm on April 24 and can be booked at Emerywalker.org.uk.

Jason Sandy’s book Thames Mudlarking: searching for London’s Lost Treasures” is out now and available at Blackwells, WH Smith, Waterstones, Foyles and online bookstores.