Key Takeaways
- Fourteen-year-old Emmylou Vaxby has published a book about her experiences finding historical artifacts on the muddy shores of the River Thames.
- Her mudlarking hobby has led to fascinating discoveries, including Georgian pottery, ancient bones, and 18th-century clay tobacco pipes.
- Passionate about conservation, she founded the Wapping Plastic-Free Community in 2021 to organize river clean-ups and protect local wildlife.
Searching for historical treasures at low tide
While most teenagers are glued to their screens, fourteen-year-old Emmylou Vaxby has spent nearly a decade looking down at the muddy shores of the River Thames. As a seasoned “mudlark,” Emmylou searches the exposed riverbed at low tide for fragments of London’s rich past, discovering everything from Georgian chinoiserie pottery to centuries-old clay tobacco pipes.
Her unusual hobby began when she was just five or six years old, but it blossomed into a deep passion during pandemic lockdowns. During daily walks with her musical family, Emmylou began documenting her fascinating finds—which include an eighteenth-century pipe bowl made by a local pipemaker—on her blog and YouTube channel. Her vast knowledge of tidal science and everyday human history recently culminated in a published book, A Guide to Mudlarking on the River Thames, which she wrote by dedicating herself to drafting up to 2,800 words a day during her summer holidays.
Beyond preserving history, Emmylou is intensely passionate about protecting the environment. In 2021, after seeing a swan mistake a piece of plastic for food, she founded the Wapping Plastic-Free Community. She now organizes twice-yearly riverbank clean-ups and regularly participates in local litter-picking events alongside a dedicated mailing list of sixty local volunteers.
For Emmylou, mudlarking is a meditative escape from the stresses of schoolwork. She also recognizes the profound privilege of her pastime, noting with gratitude that while Victorian children were often forced to scour the dangerous river mud for a livelihood, she gets to do it simply for the joy and satisfaction of discovery.
