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    The Thames Foreshore: Dates and Permits Structure

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    corinne mills
    The document discusses regulations for searching and digging on the foreshore of the Thames river in London. It outlines that the Port of London Authority oversees safety on the tidal Thames and licenses searching by the Society of Thames Mudlarks. There are two types of permits - a standard permit allowing digging up to 3 inches and restrictions on location, and a mudlark permit allowing digging up to 3 feet with less restrictions. All historical objects found must be reported to the Museum of London.

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    The Thames Foreshore: Dates and Permits Structure

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    corinne mills
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    The document discusses regulations for searching and digging on the foreshore of the Thames river in London. It outlines that the Port of London Authority oversees safety on the tidal Thames and licenses searching by the Society of Thames Mudlarks. There are two types of permits - a standard permit allowing digging up to 3 inches and restrictions on location, and a mudlark permit allowing digging up to 3 feet with less restrictions. All historical objects found must be reported to the Museum of London.

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    The Thames Foreshore

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    The document discusses regulations for searching and digging on the foreshore of the Thames river in London. It outlines that the Port of London Authority oversees safety on the tidal Thames and licenses searching by the Society of Thames Mudlarks. There are two types of permits - a standard permit allowing digging up to 3 inches and restrictions on location, and a mudlark permit allowing digging up to 3 feet with less restrictions. All historical objects found must be reported to the Museum of London.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    2K views4 pages

    The Thames Foreshore: Dates and Permits Structure

    Uploaded by

    corinne mills
    The document discusses regulations for searching and digging on the foreshore of the Thames river in London. It outlines that the Port of London Authority oversees safety on the tidal Thames and licenses searching by the Society of Thames Mudlarks. There are two types of permits - a standard permit allowing digging up to 3 inches and restrictions on location, and a mudlark permit allowing digging up to 3 feet with less restrictions. All historical objects found must be reported to the Museum of London.

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    The passage discusses the tradition of mudlarking on the Thames river banks and the regulations around obtaining permits to search the foreshore. There are two types of permits - standard and mudlark - which have different digging depths and location restrictions. Any historical objects found must be reported to the Museum of London.

    The two types of permits are standard permits, which allow digging to 3 inches deep and have location restrictions, and mudlark permits, which require membership in the Society of Mudlarks and allow digging to 3 feet deep with less location restrictions.

    All objects of archaeological or historical interest found must be taken to the Museum of London for identification and recording, along with discovery details. This information then needs to be passed to the Port of London Authority when the permit expires. The PLA and Crown Estate reserve rights over ownership of objects found, and treasure finds must be reported to the Coroner within 14 days.

    The Thames Foreshore

    The Port of London Authority is responsible for safety on 150km (95 miles) of the tidal Thames
    from the sea to Teddington, including the foreshore area up to the high-water line.

    If you were to look out onto the banks of the Thames at low tide, you might well see men and
    women combing the foreshore, metal detectors in hand, stooping only to pick up finds they’ve
    uncovered from the murky Thames mud. These are modern mudlarks and they are following a
    tradition that goes back to Victorian times.

    The Society of Thames Mudlarks was founded in 1980 - you’ll find no website, phone number or
    postal address listed for this club. Not just anyone can go onto the mud of the Thames and search
    for finds and the Society does so by special licence. The members have to declare anything
    historically interesting to the Museum of London. The museum now has around 1000 of their
    finds, including miniature cannons of copper and pewter – the oxygen-starved mud of the
    Thames bed may not be good for wildlife, but it’s great for stopping the metal tarnishing and
    decaying.

    However you don't have to be a member of the mudlarks society to obtain permission to search.

    Dates and permits structure

    • Permits will be issued from 1st April 2005 for one year only.
    • Permits will have two parts - an ID/permit card and a "conditions" card
    Permit types and use

    There are be two types of permit:

    • A standard permit (of which there is also a One Day permit available). This allows you to
    dig to 3 inches (7.5cm) down and has restrictions on location
    • Mudlarks digging permit (you need to be a current member of the Society of Mudlarks).
    This allows you to dig up to 3 feet (1 metre) down and has less restriction on digging
    location.

    Permit Costs

    The costs of permits are as follows:

    • Standard £35.00
    • Mudlark £40.00
    • Day permit £7.50

    Reporting and recording regime

    All objects of archaeological or historical interest must be taken to the Museum of London for
    identification and recording , along with details of the locations and circumstances of discovery

    The museum will return the objects to the finder with a copy of the identification and PAS record

    This information needs to be passed onto Port of London Authority (i.e. the PAS record) at the
    time of the expiry of the holders permit.

    The PLA and The Crown Estate reserve their rights in relation to the ownership of objects found.

    If an object is believed to be treasure the Holder must notify the find to the Coroner within 14
    days

    Digging Restrictions

    The areas that are restricted can be viewed in this NCMD document

    http://www.ncmd.co.uk/docs/pla%20permit.pdf

    Notes:
    • Metal detectors : May be used on the foreshore. Whilst these new Permits do not cover
    the use of metal detectors when searching the foreshore, any digging resulting from such
    use is always subject to the requirements of this regime.
    • Renewals : Application for renewal of Permits should be made at least one month before
    its expiry to the PLA.
    • Safety : Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published guidance on safety in excavations.
    It is recommended that Mudlark Permit Holders obtain copies of the relevant information
    for their safety.

    Contact and for further Information:

    The Port of London Authority


    Marine Administrative Support (Foreshore Permits)
    London River House
    Royal Pier Road
    Gravesend
    Kent
    DA12 2BG

    • Tel 01474 562284


    • Fax 01474 562277
     

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