The Houses of Parliament

First impressions; well, it never was going to be the most accessible site in London, obviously! Yep, there is no quick and easy way down there. The foreshore up near the actual House gets very narrow before it dwindles to nothing. This means the tide comes in fast and as soon as it turns it’s a rush to the wider higher (drier!) ground further along.

As you approach the House, the going gets hard and heavy, consisting mainly of a rubble of large chunks of masonry, there are large scatters of this by Victoria Tower Gardens as well. Much of this is quite ornate, but it is impossible to tell at this early stage whether it is from the original palace or Gilbert Scott’s finest.

The rubble on the foreshore is largely the result of bomb damage to the river wall and there are also features which could be causeways or jetties. At this stage it is not possible to tell how old they are, why they are there and what purpose they served. In the following days, hopefully things will become clearer.

Finds consist to a large extent of Houses of Parliament dinnerware. There is a LOT of it, distinctive green and white china, and also a fair amount of cutlery, including a silver plated knife from Arthur Price (a well-known Sheffield cutler) and a heavy fork (see below) which may or may not have been silver.

The volume of the stuff is unsurprising when you consider the sheer industrial scale the Mother of Parliaments dines on. Counting both chambers, there are over thirteen hundred people, and that’s just the politicians! There are several sittings for meals a day, and much lavish entertaining.

The fact that we found plenty of cutlery including silver plate and bottles which were whole and had recycle value in abundance suggests to me that this area is not frequented much by Mudlarks or casual scavengers. A Port of London Authority Exclusion Zone is in operation in this area.

The forecast suggests the weather for the next few days will be sunnier – I certainly hope so!