Secret Rivers, Museum of London – Docklands, May 2019

Secret Rivers at the Museum of London Docklands 24th May – 27th October 2019

Every time I visit the Museum of London site at Docklands, I can’t believe they have such brilliant exhibitions for free and their latest is no exception. Secret Rivers is a fascinating look at how London has been shaped not just by the Thames but also by its tributaries.

 

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The Effra, Fleet, Neckinger, Lea, Tyburn, Walbrook, Wandle and Westbourne may be familiar to some Londoners but for many visitors to the Museum of London the watery tales and discovery of liquid life just underneath the surface of our London streets will entice you in to the sacred waters. I guarantee there will be stories and connections to places you know that are unexpected and intriguing.

Taking the Thames Clipper to Museum of London Docklands.

 

Archaeology from the river.

A Mudlarkers journal.

I have always loved the sacred role of the river, the way objects are given and lost to the water but sometimes returned and found on the foreshore. It is like the ancient gods hold on to them, covering them in the silty river bed, then deciding one day with the swirl of a current and the ripple of a wave to birth them back into the world.

I love the mudlarkers journal, meticulously recording finds, including a tiny blue roman intaglio that the river returned from its watery grave a thousand years after it was lost. So tiny, you wonder at the hawk-like eyes that would pick it out on a riverbank of mud and stone.

Wonderful mix of archaeology, photography, paintings, prints and contemporary art.

 

Medieval oak three-seated toilet seat. Mid 12th century.

Replica for you to ‘try’ out.

Bone toothbrush 18-19th century. Copyright Museum of London. The bristles on this toothbrush are missing. Toothbrushes were relatively uncommon for the lower classes and sticks dipped in soot were often used for cleaning teeth. Where toothbrushes were owned, one would have been shared amongst the entire family.

There is, as you would expect, some fantastic archaeology, from familiar objects like the 18-19th century bone toothbrush found during an excavation of Jacob’s Island. To the more unusual 12th century toilet seat found over a cesspit from the Lower Fleet Valley. With room for 3 you can try it out for yourself with a rather lovely replica (be warned there are also sound effects).

 

A soundscape of London River Sounds by Ian Rawes remind you of the rivers.

Paintings and prints tell the story of Secret Rivers.

Folly Ditch, Jacob’s Island, 1887 by James Lawson Stuart

Peckham Lights Postcards 2015. Loraine Rutt.

Although I love archaeology, what I really love is the balance of objects and artworks including photography, paintings, contemporary art and prints that really bring a richness to the exhibition and show off the museum’s stunning collections and some fantastic loans.

The changing shape of the River Fleet from the Early Roman period (left) to the Mid 18th century (right).

The story of London’s rivers is not just a historical one, it is also the story of how those tributaries of the Thames survive today, hidden underground and built over. It is a modern story, a continuing living tale that is reflected in the contemporary objects displayed.

Profane to Sacred 2018. Sarah Wilson. This cope (ceremonial cape) was worn by the Bishop of Lambeth for the 2019 Blessing of the Thames. Plastic objects collected from the Thames foreshore were used in screen-printing, lace-making and some were sewn on to decorate the orphery (border of the cope).

 

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One of my favourites is the cope (ceremonial cape) worn by the Bishop of Lambeth durning a ceremony to bless the Thames. Made by artist Sarah Wilson it turns the discarded rubbish and plastic taken from the Thames into something sacred and beautiful. If you are visiting with little ones I am sure they will take great pleasure in picking out all the sweet wrappers woven into the fabric.

Plastic toys, 21st century. From the River Wandle.

There are also the delightful 21st century toys, a careless modern offering to the River Wandle, part of a massive 51 tonnes of material collected through volunteer run clean up sessions in 2017.

Jane Porter’s alphabet art, an A-Z made with objects found during clean-ups of the river Wandle.

Here they are displayed with all the care of a precious historic fragment that makes us think about what we value, is it the passage of time that makes an object important? What do we value, the material, the object or the story it has to tell?

The stories in Secret Rivers are ones of life, but death and disease is never far away and a terrifying cholera map reminds us of how easily disease can spread aided by the rivers reach.

 

In 2018 the area has been replaced with new housing and an ecological park.

DLR viaduct over Bow Creek 1992

Whilst the exhibition moves on to tell the story of London’s rivers at the heart of industrial era transforming London, pollution is an all too familiar result but efforts to clean up our neglected ecosystem are a moment to feel hopeful for the future. Peter Marshalls photographs show the results of efforts to reclaim the rivers and rebalance our ecology with a comparison of the Docklands Light Railway over Bow Creek and the change in the River Wandle near Merton Abbey.

My local Secret River the Ravensbourne.

Whether you think of yourself as a Londoner or not, Secret Rivers makes you realise how much of Greater London is connected by her rivers. Living in Bromley the Ravensbourne is my local tributary, my nephew attends the Ravensbourne School and it flows at the very end of a friends garden. While many of London’s rivers are secret and hidden we can feel their reach far away from the central London streets.

Secret Rivers connect us to the heart of London and to the Thames in more ways than we realise. They connect us even more than trams and train lines, even more directly than underground train routes. They connect us through time and space, through history, and whatever your religion (or lack of), they connect us to the sacred heart of London.

 

Return by Thames Clipper

Messing about on the river.

Tower Bridge and the Shard.

Returning from Docklands on the Thames Clipper, low on the water, seeing the Thames sparkle in the sunlight you have time to think about those watery tendrils reaching out and connecting us and I find that thought quite calming and rather appealing in a fractured modern world.

Secret Rivers is free and fabulous, it is well worth a trip to Docklands to see it, but make sure you travel by boat – the full watery impact can’t be beaten.

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Secret Rivers is on at Museum of London Docklands from 24th May – 27th October 2019. It is free! For opening times please see their website – https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands

there is also a varied events programme including a ‘Liquid Late’ on Thursday 20th May tickets in advance £12 for more details – https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/whats-on/secret-rivers-liquid-late?id=202008