Why there are so many clay pipes on the Thames

[PipeIT]

Wow this is really interesting!

I wish I could go mudlarking on the Thames for clays, looks like quite a history to still be found.

@halfdan you mudlark on the Thames for clay pipes?

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Volumes have been written about clay pipes made from the 16-19th century’s. In the eastern US and Britain they are the most ubiquitous form of historical trash, and are often used to date archaeological layers. Clay pipe shapes, stamps, touch marks, manufacturing practices, and forms changed dramatically over the course of 400 years so much so that archaeologists carry field guides dedicated to dating their fragments thus dating the archaeological layer they are found in. Clay pipe stem fragments can be accurately dated based simply on their OD and draft hole ID to a 5-10 year period.

 

[The Clay King]

Wow this is really interesting!

I wish I could go mudlarking on the Thames for clays, looks like quite a history to still be found.

@halfdan you mudlark on the Thames for clay pipes?

@PipeIT I'd really like to; I enjoy getting my waders on and going in the water when I do river clean-up volunteer work. Do you think the Clay King would like to smoke a clay he found himself?