Many times, as I’ve walked around central London, I have passed stairs leading down into the murky waters of the Thames. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, the tide is out, and I can take a stroll along the foreshore to do a bit of mudlarking. I am not a very dedicated mudlarker though, so my collection of items recovered from the mud and sands of the Thames amounts to not much more than a jar full of clay pipe stems and a couple of water worn plastic toys.
Trig Lane Stairs lead down to the foreshore from
Paul’s Walk, near to the Millennium Bridge. I have passed these many times, but never
ventured down them. So, while out killing
some time before meeting up with a friend, I came across them and decided to go
down and have a look around. The stairs
themselves are not for the faint hearted, or doddery old farts like me, as they
are quite steep. However, I managed to get
down them without any mishaps.
I took a little time wandering around the shore
which was a mish mash of pebbles, water smoothed bricks, sand and mud. Amongst all of this were piles and piles of animal
bones. Brown with age and mud I assumed
they must hark back to a time when there was a slaughterhouse or butcher’s nearby. Or maybe just lots of ale houses selling
mutton on the bone with the waters of the Thames being an easy place to dispose
of all the waste. Then there were the
thousands of clay pipe stems and pieces of the pipe bowls, these being the fag
ends of their day. I collected up a few
of these and wondered who the smokers were who had puffed away on the coarse
tobacco in them a couple of hundred or so years before. I suppose it could be anyone from a great
literary mind or political thinker to a gin soak. I ain’t ever going to know, but its fun to
imagine the life of the person who had puffed away on it.
As more people began to make their way down the
stairs to explore the shore, I found a place to discreetly leave the Skulferatu
who had accompanied me down there. I
left it in a small sandy patch, just under the Millennium Bridge.
The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu
are –
Latitude 51.510631
Longitude -0.098475
