Listen free for 30 days
-
Mudlarking
- Narrated by: Lara Maiklem
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, World
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £14.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
A Field Guide to Larking
- By: Lara Maiklem
- Narrated by: Lara Maiklem
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To lark is to get out and about, to explore the world around us and to discover the little treasures hiding in plain sight. We think, of course, of mudlarking, but there is also beachlarking, fieldlarking or even simply exploring your own home with fresh eyes. In this field guide, Lara teaches us how to lark for ourselves. There are charts, tips and lists throughout to help identify finds. From tide tables for mudlarkers to a flint guide for fieldlarkers, this book is richly informative. Like a journal, it invites you to interact - to make notes and record finds along the way.
-
-
Loved her first book
- By HeyDon't. on 05-03-22
-
Ancestors
- A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials
- By: Alice Roberts
- Narrated by: Alice Roberts
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We often think of Britain springing from nowhere with the arrival of the Romans. But in Ancestors, pre-eminent archaeologist, broadcaster and academic Professor Alice Roberts explores what we can learn about the very earliest Britons – from their burial sites. Although we have very little evidence of what life was like in prehistorical times, here their stories are told through the bones and funerary offerings left behind, preserved in the ground for thousands of years.
-
-
Great overview of field, pity about the politics
- By Mr. D. Southcott on 27-06-21
-
A Mudlark's Treasures
- London in Fragments
- By: Ted Sandling, Iain Sinclair - afterword
- Narrated by: Ted Sandling
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mudlarking, the act of searching the Thames foreshore for items of value, has a long tradition in London. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, mudlarks were small boys grubbing a living from scrap. Modern-day mudlark Ted Sandling shares his passion for unearthing relics of the past from the banks of the Thames and describes his 50 most evocative finds.
-
-
For all would be mudlarkers!
- By Karen N on 30-05-21
-
The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you could travel back in time, the period from 1660 to 1700 would make one of the most exciting destinations in history. It's the age of Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London, bawdy comedy and the libertine court of Charles II, Christopher Wren in architecture, Henry Purcell in music and Isaac Newton in science. In The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain, Ian Mortimer answers the crucial questions that a prospective traveller to 17th-century Britain would ask.
-
-
Informative, interesting and entertaining history
- By Kirstine on 21-09-17
-
Windblown
- Landscape, Legacy and Loss - the Great Storm of 1987
- By: Tamsin Treverton Jones
- Narrated by: Tamsin Treverton Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great Storm of 1987 is etched firmly into the national memory. Everyone who was there that night remembers how hurricane-force winds struck Southern Britain without warning, claiming 18 lives, uprooting more than 15 million trees and reshaping the landscape for future generations. Thirty years on, the discovery of an old photograph inspires the author to make a journey into that landscape.
-
Animal Societies
- How Co-Operation Conquered the Natural World
- By: Ashley Ward
- Narrated by: Ashley Ward
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Join Biologist Ashley Ward as he takes listeners into the intimate worlds of social animals. Journeying from Aysgarth Falls to the Great Barrier Reef, it becomes clear that animals are not so far removed from us as we might imagine. In a time where humans are struggling to navigate cityscapes, isolation and a loneliness epidemic, Ward shows us that studying the social behaviour of animals offers insights valuable in their own right as well as a window into the evolutionary basis of our own species.
-
-
Definitely my book of the year
- By hhj on 09-05-20
-
A Field Guide to Larking
- By: Lara Maiklem
- Narrated by: Lara Maiklem
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To lark is to get out and about, to explore the world around us and to discover the little treasures hiding in plain sight. We think, of course, of mudlarking, but there is also beachlarking, fieldlarking or even simply exploring your own home with fresh eyes. In this field guide, Lara teaches us how to lark for ourselves. There are charts, tips and lists throughout to help identify finds. From tide tables for mudlarkers to a flint guide for fieldlarkers, this book is richly informative. Like a journal, it invites you to interact - to make notes and record finds along the way.
-
-
Loved her first book
- By HeyDon't. on 05-03-22
-
Ancestors
- A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials
- By: Alice Roberts
- Narrated by: Alice Roberts
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We often think of Britain springing from nowhere with the arrival of the Romans. But in Ancestors, pre-eminent archaeologist, broadcaster and academic Professor Alice Roberts explores what we can learn about the very earliest Britons – from their burial sites. Although we have very little evidence of what life was like in prehistorical times, here their stories are told through the bones and funerary offerings left behind, preserved in the ground for thousands of years.
-
-
Great overview of field, pity about the politics
- By Mr. D. Southcott on 27-06-21
-
A Mudlark's Treasures
- London in Fragments
- By: Ted Sandling, Iain Sinclair - afterword
- Narrated by: Ted Sandling
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mudlarking, the act of searching the Thames foreshore for items of value, has a long tradition in London. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, mudlarks were small boys grubbing a living from scrap. Modern-day mudlark Ted Sandling shares his passion for unearthing relics of the past from the banks of the Thames and describes his 50 most evocative finds.
-
-
For all would be mudlarkers!
- By Karen N on 30-05-21
-
The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you could travel back in time, the period from 1660 to 1700 would make one of the most exciting destinations in history. It's the age of Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London, bawdy comedy and the libertine court of Charles II, Christopher Wren in architecture, Henry Purcell in music and Isaac Newton in science. In The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain, Ian Mortimer answers the crucial questions that a prospective traveller to 17th-century Britain would ask.
-
-
Informative, interesting and entertaining history
- By Kirstine on 21-09-17
-
Windblown
- Landscape, Legacy and Loss - the Great Storm of 1987
- By: Tamsin Treverton Jones
- Narrated by: Tamsin Treverton Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great Storm of 1987 is etched firmly into the national memory. Everyone who was there that night remembers how hurricane-force winds struck Southern Britain without warning, claiming 18 lives, uprooting more than 15 million trees and reshaping the landscape for future generations. Thirty years on, the discovery of an old photograph inspires the author to make a journey into that landscape.
-
Animal Societies
- How Co-Operation Conquered the Natural World
- By: Ashley Ward
- Narrated by: Ashley Ward
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Join Biologist Ashley Ward as he takes listeners into the intimate worlds of social animals. Journeying from Aysgarth Falls to the Great Barrier Reef, it becomes clear that animals are not so far removed from us as we might imagine. In a time where humans are struggling to navigate cityscapes, isolation and a loneliness epidemic, Ward shows us that studying the social behaviour of animals offers insights valuable in their own right as well as a window into the evolutionary basis of our own species.
-
-
Definitely my book of the year
- By hhj on 09-05-20
-
Afloat
- A Memoir
- By: Danie Couchman
- Narrated by: Danie Couchman
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Danie Couchman grew up on the move, her family never staying still long enough for her to say where she's from. At 25, and living in her 17th home, she finds herself drowning in the rush of London life and makes an impulsive decision: to buy a narrowboat and make it her home. Surrounded by an eclectic and itinerant community in the uncharted territory of the capital's urban wilderness, Danie becomes fully immersed in this hidden world. Each day on board her boat, Genesis, is an adventure full of disaster and magic.
-
-
Fantastic story! I loved it.
- By Anonymous User on 29-08-20
-
The Century Girls
- By: Tessa Dunlop
- Narrated by: Tessa Dunlop, Sandra Duncan, Anna Bentinck, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018 Britain will celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote; during the intervening 10 decades the lives of women in this country have been transformed. Told in their own voices, The Century Girls celebrates seven centenarians who lived that change: what they saw, how they were treated, who they loved, what they did and where they are now. With stories that are intimately knitted into the history of these islands, The Century Girls is a time-travel adventure featuring society’s oldest, most precious national treasures.
-
-
Remarkable ordinary women
- By NCR on 27-02-20
-
On the Road
- Adventures from Nixon to Trump
- By: James Naughtie
- Narrated by: James Naughtie
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Naughtie, the acclaimed author and BBC broadcaster, now brings his unique and inquisitive eye to the country that has fascinated him and drawn him across the Atlantic for half a century. In looking at America, from Presidents Nixon through to Trump, he’ll tell the story of a country that is grappling with a dream. What has it come to mean in the new century and who do Americans now think they are?
-
-
Warm, incisive and compelling journey of America
- By David on 06-07-20
-
Sophia
- Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary
- By: Anita Anand
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1876, Sophia Duleep Singh was born into Indian royalty. Her father Maharajah Duleep Singh was heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs, one of the greatest empires of the Indian subcontinent, a realm that stretched from the lush Kashmir Valley to the craggy foothills of the Khyber Pass and included the mighty cities of Lahore and Peshawar. It was a territory irresistible to the British, who plundered everything, including the fabled Koh-I-Noor diamond.
-
-
Inspiring and angering
- By Saskia on 11-11-15
-
The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, stories and 100 essential recipes for midwinter
- By: Nigel Slater
- Narrated by: Nigel Slater
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Christmas Chronicles is the story of Nigel Slater's love for winter, for the scent of fir and spruce, for ghost stories read with a glass of sloe gin, and beeswax candles with shadows dancing on the ceiling. With recipes, decorations, fables and quick fireside suppers, Nigel guides you through the essential preparations for Christmas and the New Year, with everything you need to enjoy the winter months.
-
-
Superb
- By Ms on 07-11-17
-
The Hoarder
- By: Jess Kidd
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maud Drennan - underpaid carer and unintentional psychic - is the latest in a long line of dogsbodies for the ancient, belligerent Cathal Flood. Yet despite her best efforts, Maud is drawn into the mysteries concealed in his filthy, once-grand home. She realises that Cathal, and the junk-filled rooms, are opening up to her. With only her landlady and a troop of sarcastic ghostly saints to help, Maud must uncover what lies beneath Cathal's decades-old hostility and the strange activities of the house itself.
-
-
Beautifully written, beautifully read Irish novel
- By Amazon Customer on 11-03-18
-
The Summer Before the War
- By: Helen Simonson
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
East Sussex, 1914. It is the end of England's brief Edwardian summer, and everyone agrees that the weather has never been so beautiful. Hugh Grange, down from his medical studies, is visiting his aunt Agatha, who lives with her husband in the small, idyllic coastal town of Rye. Agatha's husband works in the Foreign Office, and she is certain he will ensure that the recent sabre rattling over the Balkans won't come to anything.
-
-
Another compelling and moving story from Simonson
- By Jockette61 on 20-05-17
-
Dolly
- By: Susan Hill
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The remoter parts of the English Fens are forlorn, lost and damp even in the height of summer. At Lyot Lock, a large decaying house, two young cousins, Leonora and Edward are parked for the summer with their ageing spinster aunt and her cruel housekeeper. At first the unpleasantness and petty meanness’s appear simply spiteful, calculated to destroy Edward's equanimity.
-
-
Amazing ! you have to read
- By Cherie on 28-04-14
-
A Classical Education
- The Stuff You Wish You'd been Taught at School
- By: Caroline Taggart
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is the Greek alphabet all Greek to you? Is geometry your Achilles heel and does your knowledge of Homer have more to do with The Simpsons than the Sirens? From engineering and architecture to drama and democracy, the world around us is founded on the principles and discoveries of the Ancient World, yet our understanding of it is episodic at best. But it's never too late to learn.
-
-
Surprisingly good!
- By Amazon Customer on 22-12-16
-
Two Turtle Doves
- A Memoir of Making Things
- By: Alex Monroe
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world. Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-karts and guns, crossbows and booby traps, boats, bikes, or scooters. And then, it was jewelry.
-
My Life in Ruins
- By: Adam Ford
- Narrated by: Adam Ford
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adam Ford is an archaeologist. Not only has he been on expeditions to unlock the mysteries of the past in the Caribbean, British Isles, Jordan, Syria, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Australia, he's also had heat stroke, hypothermia, and dysentery; been chased by camel spiders; been walked on by scorpions; and been pestered by bugs big enough to ride.
-
Kindred
- By: Rebecca Wragg Sykes
- Narrated by: Rebecca Wragg Sykes
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Kindred, Neanderthal expert Becky Wragg Sykes shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an icy wasteland and reveals the Neanderthal you don’t know, who lived across vast and diverse tracts of Eurasia and survived through hundreds of thousands of years of massive climate change. Using a thematic rather than chronological approach, this book will shed new light on where they lived, what they ate and the increasingly complex Neanderthal culture that is being discovered.
-
-
Was this recorded inside a biscuit tin?
- By hhj on 31-05-21
Summary
Mudlark (/'mAdla;k/) noun A person who scavenges for usable debris in the mud of a river or harbour.
Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for over 15 years, in pursuit of the objects that the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hair pins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys.
These objects tell her about London and its lost ways of life. Moving from the river's tidal origins in the west of the city to the point where it meets the sea in the east, Mudlarking is a search for urban solitude and history on the River Thames, what Lara calls 'the longest archaeological site in the world'.
Audible Sessions : Lara Maiklem on Mudlarking
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about Mudlarking
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- oorkris
- 25-08-19
Unexpectedly fascinating insight into lost London
I spotted this in Foyles bookshop on the Southbank in London yesterday and had to download it, it caught my eye after the serendipity of having seen some mudlarkers on Bankside as I walked along the Thames just half an hour earlier. This was an unexpectedly engaging and interesting read. Could easily have devoured more and would now love to see an exhibit of finds from across the ages.
31 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Orpheus
- 08-11-19
Read like a Novel.
Beautifully read. Simple down to earth descriptions and a voice that made it such a pleasure to listen to. I felt Ms Maiklem's romantic ghosts speaking from the depths, every character coming alive. It was, in places, more like a novel. I felt so much nostalgic longing for London listening every day. I don't believe I could have enjoyed this book more if I had read it myself.
29 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deborah
- 21-11-19
An alternative view of the Thames
The term Mudlarker began to be used within the 18th and 19th Century and is a title given to Londoners who spend their time searching for items within the mud and muck which makes up the Thames shore lines. This book is divided into the various different sections of the Thames and describes one woman’s search for items of interest, what she has found and her dreams / imaginings of their individual owners.
I had been unsure as to what to expect from this book and I had purchased largely upon the many glowing reviews which I had read; I have not been disappointed!
At various points Lara Maiklem will discuss each find no matter how small or seemingly insignificant in detail. For example handmade pins. She may discuss the cleaning operation which can be painstaking, but for me the part I love is her dreams around the potential owners and their lives. As a person with a deep interest in history and a fellow daydreamer these small snippets were beautiful.
Throughout the book Lara Maiklem will use her knowledge of London and painstaking research into different historical periods to discuss London’s Thames through the ages and how society have altered. However this is more than just a book about history, this is also a book of how Lara Maiklem found ‘herself’.
The book sings with Lara Maiklem’s passion for this occupation and it was delight to listen to her calm and enthusiastic tones while I driving or completing some other mundane tasks. A gorgeous book, one I will likely go back for another listen and would recommend others to give it a go!
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frankieg3
- 20-08-19
A book about a very interesting subject.
I had been excitedly waiting for this book as I had heard good things about it. The writing is very good and I loved the information in it.
The drawback is the narration. The voice is very clear and diction excellent BUT its the lack of inflection makes it boring. No enthusiasm just a flat reading. It has been a struggle to listen to.
33 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amanda Earthwren Gazidis
- 21-01-20
A truly remarkable book.
Lara immerses the reader with her amazing passion for ‘mudlarking’ an activity which has clearly become a central part of her life. I was swept along by the history, the world hidden on the foreshores of the tidal river Thames. Fascinating first hand accounts and meticulously researched and I felt beautifully read. I was engrossed and enraptured by the reading of this remarkable and truly unique book about her accounts over the years, arresting and gory at times. Now I am fascinated by this subject!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- farn14
- 24-11-19
Loved it
I felt like a mudlarker- wondering what was going to be revealed next; so successful as a tale and as a fascinating account of history.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jennie Caminada
- 28-12-19
Stunning
Poetic, interesting, beautiful, riveting. I could listen to this for the rest of my life. Loved it.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs H
- 23-10-19
Fascinating!
I couldn’t stop listening to this audio book. Lara’s narration was just perfect combining historical facts with the excitement of her finds.
Thank you!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hannah
- 31-12-19
Fascinating
If you love London don’t miss this. Atmospheric, inspiring and redolent of London’s past. A wonderful listening experience.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- POG
- 30-10-19
A Wonderful Journey
Absolutely Brilliant. I went on a trip along with Lara and enjoyed every moment of it. P. Knight
7 people found this helpful