Any Ideas?
Errr….No
Last week I went for a wander along the Thames Path from Westferry DLR station to Tower Bridge. This took me through the areas of Limehouse, Shadwell and Wapping. When I got to Shadwell I squeezed myself through the small alleyway known as Pelican Stairs which leads down to the foreshaw to take a few pictures at low tide.
Tempted as I was to have a quick rummage through the shingle to see what I could find I was on a bit of a mission and so time was limited, so limited that I didn’t have time to pop into the Prospect of Whitby that sits next to Pelican Stairs. I took a few photos both up and down stream and was just about to leave when I noticed a nice little perspective opportunity under an old wooden dock and so walked across to take the photo.
Concentrating through the viewfinder and trying to manoeuvre myself into position I failed to see a large lump of masonry in my path and nearly ended up flat on my face.
I said something similar to “Oh dear” and looked at what had tripped me up.
It was a roundish piece of stonework about eighteen inches across and was about ten inches thick. It appeared to have been carved in places and looked similar to a slice of elephants foot.
The piece had been painted a shade of cream and there seemed to be deposits of iron embedded within it. On closer inspection there appeared to be a carved V on one of the faces. My best guess was that it was a section of a stone pillar, but as to it’s age and provenance I hadn’t got a clue. As time was pressing I had to leave it, but its baffled me since and I wished that I could have examined it and recorded it a bit better. After a few days I decided to ask someone who might know and so contacted Liz at “A Mudlark’s Diary” and sent her the photographs. Unfortunately she was as unsure of it’s age and provenance as I was, so she advised that perhaps my next step would be to contact the Archaeological Finds team at the museum of London to see if they could identify it. So I sent them in and now have to wait until someone has the time to look at them. I let you know how it turns out.