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{Exploring} Bermondsey Foreshore Walk with Thames Festival Trust

Bermondsey Foreshore Walk

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.

Bermondsey Foreshore Walk

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.

Bermondsey Foreshore Walk

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.

treasures from our Bermondsey Foreshore Walk

My daughter was delighted to find lots of animal bones!

Bermondsey Foreshore Walk

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

4 Comments

  • Reply
    adriana
    September 11, 2023 at 3:41 pm

    Wow this must have been amazing to see. I definitely would love to go check it out one day! The pictures you took are great – thanks for sharing this!

  • Reply
    Monidipa Dutta
    September 11, 2023 at 7:43 pm

    I enjoyed reading about the Bermondsey Foreshore Walk with the Thames Festival Trust. It’s an engaging description of the event, highlighting the historical and cultural aspects. Makes me want to join the next one!

  • Reply
    Karen
    September 11, 2023 at 11:28 pm

    oh wow, this is soooooo dramatic! I would love to explore the bermondsey foreshore area, it seems amazing.

  • Reply
    Exploring the Thames foreshore with kids - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    April 22, 2024 at 9:30 pm

    […] Exploring Bermondsey foreshore with Thames Festival Trust […]

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