Tideway–Thames Discover y Programme Project 2016–2021
Volunteers on the foreshore (MOL A/Andy Chopping)
Tadpoles
Intro duc tion
In 2016, MOL A’s Thames Discover y Programme ( TDP) and Tideway began a par tnership to engage London’s young people with the archaeology and heritage of the River Thames . This par tnership was an impor tant step for wards in expanding the reach of the TDP ’s work with young people. It was also an integral par t of the Tideway project ’s De velopment Consent Order and Heritage Interpretation Strategy, running alongside a programme of archaeological investigation work across the Tideway route delivered by Museum of London Archaeology (MOL A).
The par tnership aligned the TDP ’s e ffor t s to share the archaeology of the Thames with the public , with Tideway ’s own communit y mission and company vision of reconnecting Londoners with their river.
There were four main strands to the project . Each of these focused on a slightly different aspect of working with young people and the TDP ’s wider work :
A schools programme for Ke y Stage 2 and 3 pupils and other young people
The de velopment and deliver y of the ‘ Tadpoles’ a foreshore training programme for 8–18-year-olds
Suppor t for the existing Foreshore Recording and Obser vation Group (FROG)
An ex tensive programme of communit y outreach e vent s
our sessions reached 2,165 young people over a five year period across london
Tadpoles Volunteers on the foreshore at Custom House , summer 2021 ( Tideway/Stewar t Turkington)
programme for Key stage 2 and 3 pupils and other young people
The schools’ programme of engagement de veloped in par tnership with Tideway was the first dedicated to young people in the TDP ’s histor y. We aimed at pupils in Ke y Stages 2 and 3 (aged between 8 and 16) to deliver activities offering cross-curricular learning in areas including Science , Technology, Engineering, & Maths (STEM) as well as local Histor y and Geography. Schools within the 14 London boroughs impacted by Tideway ’s work s were specifically targeted by this aspect of the par tnership. A series of sessions were de veloped around giving children a chance to handle finds from the foreshore , using activities first de vised for FROG training as a basis and adapting them for a younger audience. These sessions gave pupils the chance to sor t ar te fact s into categories by material and by period. Finds presented ranged from Roman to Modern to give pupils an over view of the variet y of finds t ypical of foreshore sites .
In late 2016, we ran a series of successful pilot sessions alongside foreshore visit s to sites close to se veral schools highlighted by Tideway. A session on the foreshore run in par tnership with the National Maritime Museum at Deptford helped to iron out any issues and re fine the deliver y model.
O ver the first funding period, we engaged with schools across London in riverside boroughs , running assemblies and finds handling work shops . A highlight of this period was a collaborative project with Tower Bridge. To coincide with London Rivers Week , we hosted five classes from four schools in Southwark , with pupils taking par t in a foreshore walk , a finds cleaning session in MOL A’s Time Truck and a session hosted by Tower Bridge. This was a fantastic week which demonstrated the value of the foreshore element of the project .
During the second funding period, the decision was taken to broaden the audience be yond just schools Whilst we continued to engage with schools , including alongside Tideway staff, we also sought to engage with other groups of young people between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. This included Scout and Guide groups as well as Young Archaeologist s Clubs from Bexle y, the Cit y of London, Fulham, and Nor th Wilt shire. We also par ticipated in Newham Heritage Month doing finds handling sessions for KS2 classes .
“ This se ssion was distinc tive and innovative. I have ne ver seen any thing like this be fore and it was a great way to get the children exc ited abou t the past . The children are de finitel y more informed abou t the purpo se and bene fit s of the Thame s . The y are now able to link it to topic s the y have covered in class as well.”
Year Six teacher, Sou
thwark
A school session on Tower Beach as par t of London Rivers Week (MOL A/Andy Chopping)
the tadpoles
programme reached a total of 96 young people over the life of the project
A
Tadpoles session using apps to record on the Putney Foreshore (MOL A/Andy Chopping)
tadpoles
Creating the ‘ Tadpoles’ , a dedicated version of TDP ’s Foreshore Recording and Obser vation Group (FROG) for young people , was a central achie vement of the project . The aim was to train young people in how to record foreshore archaeology, in the hope of engaging young people with an interest in archaeology but who might not other wise have a chance to get practically involved in archaeology. Another aim was that the y might one day become par t of the FROG group. We began with a series of four standalone sessions at two different foreshore sites . These initial sessions were focused on looking at the use of different recording techniques on the foreshore.
The decision was taken to shift the Tadpoles away from individual e vent s to a more cohesive , independent group. Recruitment was centralised to help create a group of regular attendees and a programme of e vent s was planned over the academic year. This also enabled us to focus Tadpoles’ learning on specific skills such as scale drawing of foreshore features , finds recognition and understanding erosion on the foreshore One of the TDP ’s ke y sites at Custom House in the Cit y of London was chosen for this purpose , as it s central location made travel easier for a wider group of Tadpoles who were travelling from across London. This created a per fect place to teach these practical skills to the Tadpoles in the field. This practical training was combined with visit s to other foreshore archaeological sites along the river being monitored by the TDP. Se veral of these visit s coincided with FROG fieldwork , enabling the Tadpoles to see the work that the FROGs were doing.
Recording the new skills gained by par ticipant s was of paramount impor tance , as we were keen to encourage par ticipants to consider fur ther volunteering or perhaps work in archaeology down the line. We made use of the British Archaeology Jobs and Resources (BA JR) Skills Passpor t , to help the Tadpoles record their competencies . These passpor t s can be used by the Tadpoles as e vidence of their skills should the y decide to continue in archaeology. By the end of the funding period, we had 30 of the Tadpoles in possession of a passpor t . In terms of sessions about half (5–6) of our core attendees had passpor t s that were regularly updated.
The impact of COVID-19 made it self felt in 2020 and some of our plans for the last year were not reached to the same degree. Whilst only one Tadpole has formally joined the FROG , we remain in touch with the Tadpoles and are keen to facilitate more of them getting involved with the project . In addition, two Tadpoles are already studying archaeology at universit y and another is planning to apply this year Fur thermore , one of our members , Rosie was nominated for and won the Marsh Young Archaeologist of the Year Award with her work with the Tadpoles forming par t of the nomination.
“I reall y enjoyed this year with the Tadpole s . I learned a lot of new skills from how to draw a feature on the fore shore to how to clean a wooden struc ture.”
Rose , a Tadpole since 201 7
“I ’ ve reall y enjoyed learning abou t the histor y of the Thame s and London through the archaeology of the fore shore. It has helped me a lot to take an intere st in new things and even consider a career in archaeology.” Evan, a Tadpole since 2018
30 young people had a heritage sKills passport
Tadpoles Volunteers on the foreshore at Custom House , summer 2021 ( Tideway/Stewar t Turkington)
173 new volunteers for the foreshore recording and observation group were trained between 2016 and 2021
supporting the frog
The Foreshore Recording and Obser vation Group (FROG) is an integral element of the work of the TDP. The volunteers assist in the work of recording the archaeology on the Thames foreshore , both during a regular summer fieldwork season but also in smaller monitoring groups at specific sites along the river throughout the year.
Suppor t from Tideway allowed two training courses to be run each Spring. These were run at Greenwich and Rotherhithe and consisted of both classroom and practical element s on the foreshore. The sessions equipped new FROG members with skills in foreshore health and safet y, finds recognition, the historical contex t of foreshore archaeology and practical drawing and measuring skills . It also enabled the TDP team to suppor t the fieldwork and monitoring groups more e fficiently along the river, with Tideway ’s funding allowing for increased staff capacit y This suppor t work also helped identif y FROG members who could suppor t other aspect s of the Tideway project , in par ticular the Tadpoles These ‘ Tadpoles champions’ were recruited to provide suppor t at Tadpoles e vent s and e ventually to work alongside Tadpoles as the y transitioned into working as members of the FROG
over the five years of the project 1,335 people attended lectures both in person and online and 200 people attended our worKshops
community outreach events
O ver the five years of the project , we organised two main t ypes of communit y outreach e vent : lectures and work shops . A major aim of these was to attract a mix ture of people , from those with little or no pre vious engagement with the Thames and it s archaeology to those more familiar with it .
The lectures were held quar terly, at venues in each of the Tideway construction zones . These ranged from Fulham Palace to Southwark Cathedral ’s librar y to the Universit y of Greenwich. This range of venues enabled us to par tner with several different organisations. Initially speakers were drawn from the TDP team, but this was expanded to include ex ternal speakers from par tner organisations . These included :
Jane Sidell from Historic England on human remains on the Thames Foreshore
Lauren Speed from the Por table Antiquities Scheme (PAS) on finds repor ted from the Thames to PAS
Tony Warner from Black Histor y Walk s on the often overlooked Black histor y of the Thames
A J Mc Conville from Thames 2 1 on the work of the Thames River Watch dealing with litter and pollution in the river
A s a result of the COVID pandemic , we moved the final three lectures online. This meant we were able to host larger numbers of attendees than had been possible at in-person e vent s .
A s with the lectures , we ran four work shops per year. The work shops were focused on equipping both volunteers and members of the public with archaeological skills . An impor tant component of these work shops was the annual Fieldwork Re fresher which enabled us to spend time primarily with existing volunteers to reacquaint them with fieldwork skills best practice in advance of our summer season. We were also able to run work shops on photogrammetr y, f lint knapping and research skills . Each of these gave us the oppor tunit y to share specialist knowledge with the attendees . A s with the lectures , the work shops provided the per fect oppor tunit y to draw on MOL A’s range of world-class specialist s including CITiZ AN ’s Oliver Hutchinson for a session on photogrammetr y, as well as to bring in ex ternal exper t s including Dr James Dille y, an exper t on the experimental archaeology of the Prehistoric period.
“I have been intere sted in f lint tools since I was a child and this work shop has made me apprec iate the le vel of skill involved in f lint knapping.”
Attendee at f lint knapping work
shop
“I have a general intere st in the Thame s and pre viousl y attended TDP lec ture s and walk s . I now have a better understanding of pivotal role London had in ship building and better understanding of ship breaking ac tivitie s . ”
Lecture attendee
James Dilley leading the f lint knapping work shop ( TDP/Nathalie Cohen)
Newly trained FROG members at Rotherhithe in 2018 ( TDP/Helen Johnston)
legacy
The par tnership between Tideway and the Thames Discover y Programme has lasted five years . This is an impressive period of time for a project like this and the sustained suppor t has had a profound impact on the work of the TDP, especially on our capacit y to engage with young people.
By working collaboratively, we have been able to reach more schools , more youth groups and more venues and professionals . Working with this range of groups has inspired new ways of thinking about what we can do and how people can engage with TDP.
The future and how the successes of the project can be carried for ward has been an impor tant consideration throughout . The Tideway funded project has formed the basis of new work looking at how we can help to mitigate some of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people through our new River Recoveries project , recently awarded funding by the National Lotter y Heritage Fund. This project will see the groundwork established over the last 5 years built on with the formation of a TDP Young Archaeologist s Club, and the deliver y of new, exciting co -produced activities with schools and families . This new chapter for the Thames Discover y Programme is testament to the strength of the Tideway project and creates a fantastic legac y for it moving for ward.
Acknowle dgement s
The work of this project would not have been possible without many individuals . At the Thames Discover y Programme , I would like to thank colleagues both past and present , Nathalie Cohen, Helen Johnston, Will Rathouse and Eliott Wragg for suppor ting the planning and deliver y of activities . At MOL A , all the staff who have suppor ted throughout the project , but in par ticular Magnus Copps , for line managing the project and providing a vital e ye over e ver y thing produced. From Tideway, Kelly Bradle y, Monica Lobo, Josie Murray Jack Russell, John Sage , Ken Whitaker and L iz Wood-Griffiths who have all at various point s at the project given their advice , asked the probing questions and provided suppor t . Finally, to all the TDP volunteers , Tadpoles , parent s , teachers and attendees of e vent s over the last five years , without whom there would have been no real project .
Josh Frost, Tideway/TDP Community Archaeologist (2019–2021) November 2021
Front cover image : Tadpoles Volunteers on the foreshore at Custom House , summer 2021 ( Tideway/Stewar t Turkington)