We love a guided walk. They are such a great way to learn new things and see things differently. Last year we were lucky to attend a guided walk along the Thames foreshore at Bermondsey. My daughter always seems to spot small things, and often comes home with a pretty feather or unusual stone from the beach. I knew she would enjoy a guided walk along the Thames foreshore.

{Exploring} Bermondsey Foreshore Walk with Thames Festival Trust

The Thames Trust is an annual festival of the Thames and features guided walks and events along the Thames. I booked the family on a guided walk along the Bermondsey foreshore where you can (carefully!) hold in your hand stone tools and pieces of cooking pots from the Neolithic period – London before Londinium!

The walk was led by Thames archaeologist Dr Fiona Haughey, who spoke about the history of the area. She led us from our meeting point at a nearby underground station down to the foreshore.

The foreshore looks like any other beach, except when you look closely you start to see all kinds of treasures.

The tide was out so we were able to walk along where we could explore the make-up of a grid-iron, (a ‘back street garage’ for boat repairs) made up of timbers which may have come from the battle of Trafalgar ships of the 1700s. this wooden structure is known as a Thames dolphin – a collection of wooden piles which can be used to moor a boat.

The Bermondsey foreshore is a fascinating place and after the guide had finished talking we were able to go off and look for finds. We found lots of old pipe pieces as well as some pottery and animal bones.

My daughter was delighted to find lots of animal bones!

You need a permit to keep finds so we carefully returned them to the foreshore before we left. Our guided walk lasted about 2 hours and was a fun way to learn about London and pretend to be an archaeologist for a morning.

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Exploring the Thames Foreshore with Kids