Southwark Cathedral is never without a few surprises up its sleeve. Aside from weekly worship and classical music recitals, the Early English Gothic cathedral welcomes everything from Disney concerts to rare art exhibitions. It’s also the proud host of ‘Mudlarking – Treasures from the Thames’, a permanent exhibition that displays treasures lost on the banks of London’s most famous river.
Within the cathedral’s 800-year-old walls are archaeological rarities and curious artefacts that offer fascinating glimpses into everyday life in London’s past. Past rare findings include 2000-year-old pottery sherds, Bronze Age arrowheads and 17th-century “love tokens” given by young men to their love interests.
What is mudlarking?
Mudlarking is the practice of searching the muddy banks of rivers for lost, discarded or historically interesting objects.
The term first came about in 18th-century London, when impoverished people would head down to the river banks at low tide, looking for any items they could sell in exchange for a few farthings. What was once a means of survival has now become a hobby—locals who spend their spare time searching for a timeless bit of history on the banks of the Thames.
What’s on display at Mudlarking – Treasures from the Thames?
The better question is: what isn’t on display at Southwark Cathedral? The free mudlarking exhibition has brought together an extraordinary cross-section of London life, from a Roman lion-head spout and an ivory sword fitting to medieval pilgrim badges, a Tudor money box and a tiny 17th-century clay chicken.
Other objects that have been on display in the past include a 5,000-year-old flint axe head, a 14th-century beehive-shaped thimble, medieval shoe soles, animal-footprinted floor tiles, 16th-century glass goblet stems, naval gunflints, cannon shot and a clay pipe shaped like an eagle’s claw.
Displays rotate to include new findings, so depending on how frequently you visit, every trip holds new discoveries.
The Mudlarking – Treasures from the Thames exhibition is in the Cathedral Link at Southwark Cathedral. You can access it during the cathedral’s normal visitor opening hours: Monday-Saturday 9am-6pm and Sunday 8:30am-5pm.
What else can you do at Southwark Cathedral?
Beyond its mudlarking displays, Southwark Cathedral is an active place of worship, with regular services and a changing programme of temporary art exhibitions.
For a deeper look at the building and its history, the cathedral runs 60-minute guided tours, while its on-site café is a handy stop for coffee and cake.
This season, the cathedral is also hosting Candlelight: Disney Love Songs — a 60-minute live string-quartet tribute to some of Disney’s most iconic songs. Thousands of candles illuminate the cathedral’s soaring Gothic arches and vaulted ceilings as musicians perform reimagined favourites including “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King and “Love Is an Open Door” from Frozen. It runs on selected dates in September and October, with tickets from £20.48.
Candlelight: Disney Love Songs
31 October 2026 19:00
Southwark Cathedral
