The River Thames isn’t just a waterway; it’s the beating heart of London’s past. For millennia it supplied drinking water, powered trade and cradled settlements long before the city took shape. Today, archaeologists and adventurous mudlarks are turning up astonishing relics that rewrite the river’s story. The new London Museum exhibition “Secrets of the Thames” showcases a selection of the most striking discoveries, and we’ve counted down the ten items that truly wow.
10 Most Spectacular Finds Unveiled
10 Waterloo Helmet
During a dredging operation near Waterloo Bridge in 1868, a worker’s eye caught a curious shape emerging from the murky sludge. After careful cleaning, the object revealed itself as an ancient bronze helmet, later christened the Waterloo Helmet. Though it resembles the popular (yet inaccurate) image of a Viking helmet with horned protrusions, this piece is actually a finely‑crafted bronze cap from the late Iron Age, dated to roughly 150‑50 BC.
The helmet’s construction involves thin bronze sheets riveted together, adorned with a flowing, hammered decorative pattern. Its size is surprisingly small, and its thinness would offer little protection in combat—any light blow could dent or pierce through. This suggests the piece was never intended for battle.
Most scholars agree it served a ceremonial purpose, likely offered to the river as a votive gift to the deities. Its placement in the Thames hints at a ritual deposition, a symbolic surrender of a prized object to the watery gods.
9 Gold Rings
Spotting a flash of gold amid the river’s detritus is a mudlarker’s dream, and the Thames has yielded hundreds of such glittering treasures. These gold rings, known as posy rings, spark endless speculation: were they lost by careless lovers, or deliberately cast into the water?
Most of the rings date from the 13th century onward and were originally intimate gifts. They often hide a secret inscription on the inner band—visible only to the giver and wearer. In the Thames, scholars have recovered rings bearing messages in English, French, and Latin. One standout piece bears a French inscription on the exterior that reads, “For Love, So Sweet.”
The sheer number of finds has led to two prevailing theories. Some suggest that lovers sealed their affection by entrusting the rings to the river’s depths, believing the water would safeguard their bond. Others argue that spurned suitors, in moments of heartbreak, hurled the symbols of love into the Thames as a dramatic gesture of rejection.
8 Axeheads
Stone tools dominated the prehistoric toolbox, yet a few exceptional axeheads were fashioned from rarer materials. One such artifact, recovered from the Thames, dates to around 4000 BC and is carved from jadeite—a vibrant green stone not native to Britain.
Jadeite had to be imported from Italy, revealing an extensive trade network that spanned the continent even in the Neolithic era. The axehead’s surface is flawlessly polished, a testament to countless hours of labor. Its sleek finish and exotic origin mark it as a high‑status object, never intended for ordinary chopping.
Its discovery in the river strongly implies a deliberate offering. The axehead’s elegance and rarity suggest it was a prestige item, likely deposited in the Thames as part of a ritual act, perhaps to appease deities or mark a significant event.
7 Ancient Skulls
Not every river find is crafted by human hands; occasionally, the river preserves the very people who once lived along its banks. In 2019, a fragment of a human skull was unearthed from a Thames bank, adding a poignant chapter to the river’s archaeological record.
While skulls from Roman, Saxon, and medieval contexts are known, this particular fragment proved extraordinary. Radiocarbon dating placed its origin at roughly 5,600 years ago, making it one of the oldest human remains discovered in Britain.
The individual was likely a Neolithic farmer who cultivated the lands surrounding the Thames. Though he would never have called the settlement “London,” his remains remind us that people have called the river’s environs home long before the city’s name ever existed.
6 Hadrian’s Head
Bronze statues were prized in antiquity, yet they are far rarer today because the metal could be melted down and repurposed. In 1834, a bronze head—modeled after the Roman Emperor Hadrian—was retrieved from the Thames near London Bridge.
London, known as Londinium in Roman times, was a bustling hub of trade and governance. While statues of emperors were common, the presence of a Hadrian bust in the river raises questions. Historical records show that when unpopular rulers fell, their statues were often toppled and discarded.
Hadrian, however, remained popular, making a violent removal unlikely. The head appears crudely severed from its original body, suggesting a deliberate act of desecration—perhaps by an individual harboring anti‑Roman sentiment—who tossed the fragment into the Thames as a symbolic rebuke.
5 Seax of Beagnoth
After the Roman withdrawal, Anglo‑Saxon London continued to thrive, leaving behind a wealth of material culture. One remarkable find is the Seax of Beagnoth, uncovered in 1857 when laborer Henry J. Briggs was excavating an estuary site.
The seax—a single‑edged short sword—features intricate metalwork and a runic inscription crafted from silver and copper. The first inscription lists the entire runic alphabet, a rare inclusion that hints at magical or protective purposes, as runes were often invoked for enchantment.
The second inscription spells out the name “Beagnoth,” likely identifying the weapon’s original owner or its maker. This dual inscription underscores both the craftsmanship and the cultural significance of runic literacy among Anglo‑Saxon elites.
4 Roman Lamp
For many mudlarks, the Thames yields countless curiosities, but few objects match the allure of a perfectly preserved Roman oil lamp discovered by a diligent finder during a lunchtime dig. The lamp, dating to the 4th or 5th century, initially looked like a modern replica.
Its surface bears a leaping lion and other decorative motifs, indicating an origin in North Africa before being shipped to Britain. The lamp’s presence in the Thames coincides with the waning days of the Western Roman Empire, suggesting it arrived during a period of intense trade and cultural exchange.
Such a pristine example offers a vivid snapshot of everyday Roman life on the fringes of empire, highlighting the interconnectedness of distant provinces and the capital of Britannia.
3 Doves Type
At the foot of Hammersmith Bridge, mudlarks repeatedly uncovered tiny metal fragments bearing alphabetic characters. Initially puzzling, the pieces were identified as movable type used by the Doves Press, a small but influential private press founded around 1900.
The press, established by Thomas Cobden‑Sanderson and Emery Walker, produced exquisitely crafted typefaces modeled on 15th‑century lettering. However, a bitter dispute over ownership led Cobden‑Sanderson to a dramatic solution: each night he would cross Hammersmith Bridge and cast the type into the Thames, fearing it would never be used again.
Over 170 nightly trips, he disposed of the entire set. Ironically, mudlarks later recovered enough of the type to reconstruct the lost Doves Type, preserving a unique chapter of printing history that might otherwise have vanished beneath the water.
2 1970s Mug?
One of the greatest anxieties for a mudlarker is mistaking a genuinely important artifact for a mundane, modern object. I once hesitated to pick up a brown ceramic piece, assuming it was merely a 1970s mug, unaware of its true significance.
Fortunately, another mudlarker recognized its value and handed it to archaeologists. Detailed analysis revealed the “mug” to be a Roman wine cup, dating back roughly 1,800 years. When originally crafted, the cup featured a second handle opposite the first, a design element lost over time.
Finding such a large, intact ceramic vessel on the foreshore is rare; each tide tumbles objects against rocks, grinding them down. This discovery underscores the importance of keeping an open mind when sifting through the Thames’s layered sediments.
1 Battersea Shield
Victorian bridge‑building projects often required dredging the riverbed, inadvertently surfacing a treasure trove of artifacts. In 1857, one of the most significant finds emerged: the Battersea Shield, a near‑complete bronze covering dating to the 2nd century BC.
The shield’s front boasts three large circular motifs filled with flowing bronze relief, alongside smaller circles once filled with red enamel that would have glittered in sunlight. The original wooden backing has long since rotted away, leaving only the ornate bronze surface.
Despite its martial appearance, the shield shows no battle damage, indicating it was likely a ceremonial object meant to impress rather than protect. Its eventual deposition in the Thames suggests it was offered to the river’s deities as a ritual sacrifice, sealing its place in history as one of the most spectacular finds from the water.