Thames Discovery Programme

reconnecting londoners with thames heritage Tideway–Thames Discovery Programme Project 2016–2021

Tadpoles Volunteers on the foreshore (MOLA/Andy Chopping)

Introduction In 2016, MOLA’s Thames Discovery Programme (TDP) and Tideway began a partnership to engage London’s young people with the archaeology and heritage of the River Thames. This partnership was an important step forwards in expanding the reach of the TDP’s work with young people.

It was also an integral part of the Tideway project’s Development Consent Order and Heritage Interpretation Strategy, running alongside a programme of archaeological investigation work across the Tideway route delivered by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).

The partnership aligned the TDP’s efforts to share the archaeology of the Thames with the public, with Tideway’s own community 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 Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils and other young people

• The development and delivery of the ‘Tadpoles’ a foreshore training programme for 8–18-year-olds

• Support for the existing Foreshore Recording and Observation Group (FROG)

• An extensive programme of community outreach events

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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/Stewart Turkington)

programme for Key stage 2 and 3 pupils and other young people The schools’ programme of engagement developed in partnership with Tideway was the first dedicated to young people in the TDP’s history. We aimed at pupils in Key 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 History and Geography. Schools within the 14 London boroughs impacted by Tideway’s works were specifically targeted by this aspect of the partnership. A series of sessions were developed around giving children a chance to handle finds from the foreshore, using activities first devised for FROG training as a basis and adapting them for a younger audience.

These sessions gave pupils the chance to sort artefacts into categories by material and by period. Finds presented ranged from Roman to Modern to give pupils an overview of the variety of finds typical of foreshore sites.

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In late 2016, we ran a series of successful pilot sessions alongside foreshore visits to sites close to several schools highlighted by Tideway. A session on the foreshore run in partnership with the National Maritime Museum at Deptford helped to iron out any issues and refine the delivery model.

Over the first funding period, we engaged with schools across London in riverside boroughs, running assemblies and finds handling workshops.

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 part in a foreshore walk, a finds cleaning session in MOLA’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 beyond 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 Archaeologists Clubs from Bexley, the City of London, Fulham, and North Wiltshire.

We also participated in Newham Heritage Month doing finds handling sessions for KS2 classes.

“This session was distinctive and innovative.

I have never seen anything like this before and it was a great way to get the children excited about the past. The children are definitely more informed about the purpose and benefits of the Thames. They are now able to link it to topics they have covered in class as well.”

Year Six teacher, Southwark

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A school session on Tower Beach as part of London Rivers Week (MOLA/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 (MOLA/Andy Chopping)

tadpoles Creating the ‘Tadpoles’, a dedicated version of TDP’s Foreshore Recording and Observation Group (FROG) for young people, was a central achievement 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 otherwise have a chance to get practically involved in archaeology. Another aim was that they might one day become part 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 events to a more cohesive, independent group. Recruitment was centralised to help create a group of regular attendees and a programme of events 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 key sites at Custom House in the City of London was chosen for this purpose, as its central location made travel easier for a wider group of Tadpoles who were travelling from across London. This created a perfect place to teach these practical skills to the Tadpoles in the field.

This practical training was combined with visits to other foreshore archaeological sites along the river being monitored by the TDP. Several of these visits coincided with FROG fieldwork, enabling the Tadpoles to see the work that the FROGs were doing.

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Recording the new skills gained by participants was of paramount importance, as we were keen to encourage participants to consider further volunteering or perhaps work in archaeology down the line. We made use of the British Archaeology Jobs and Resources (BAJR) Skills Passport, to help the Tadpoles record their competencies. These passports can be used by the Tadpoles as evidence of their skills should they decide to continue in archaeology. By the end of the funding period, we had 30 of the Tadpoles in possession of a passport. In terms of sessions about half (5–6) of our core attendees had passports that were regularly updated.

The impact of COVID-19 made itself 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 university and another is planning to apply this year. Furthermore, 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 part of the nomination.

“I really enjoyed this year with the Tadpoles.

I learned a lot of new skills from how to draw a feature on the foreshore to how to clean a wooden structure.”

Rose, a Tadpole since 2017

“I’ve really enjoyed learning about the history of the Thames and London through the archaeology of the foreshore. It has helped me a lot to take an interest in new things and even consider a career in archaeology.”

Evan, a Tadpole since 2018

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30 young people had a heritage sKills passport

Tadpoles Volunteers on the foreshore at Custom House, summer 2021 (Tideway/Stewart Turkington)

173 new volunteers for the foreshore recording and observation group were trained between 2016 and 2021

supporting the frog The Foreshore Recording and Observation 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.

Support 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 elements on the foreshore. The sessions equipped new FROG members with skills in foreshore health and safety, finds recognition, the historical context of foreshore archaeology and practical drawing and measuring skills. It also enabled the TDP team to support the fieldwork and monitoring groups more efficiently along the river, with Tideway’s funding allowing for increased staff capacity. This support work also helped identify FROG members who could support other aspects of the Tideway project, in particular the Tadpoles. These ‘Tadpoles champions’ were recruited to provide support at Tadpoles events and eventually to work alongside Tadpoles as they transitioned into working as members of the FROG.

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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 Over the five years of the project, we organised two main types of community outreach event: lectures and workshops. A major aim of these was to attract a mixture of people, from those with little or no previous engagement with the Thames and its archaeology to those more familiar with it.

The lectures were held quarterly, at venues in each of the Tideway construction zones. These ranged from Fulham Palace to Southwark Cathedral’s library to the University of Greenwich. This range of venues enabled us to partner with several different organisations. Initially speakers were drawn from the TDP team, but this was expanded to include external speakers from partner organisations. These included:

• Jane Sidell from Historic England on human remains on the Thames Foreshore

• Lauren Speed from the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) on finds reported from the Thames to PAS

• Tony Warner from Black History Walks on the often overlooked Black history of the Thames

• AJ McConville from Thames 21 on the work of the Thames River Watch dealing with litter and pollution in the river

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As 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 events.

As with the lectures, we ran four workshops per year. The workshops were focused on equipping both volunteers and members of the public with archaeological skills. An important component of these workshops was the annual Fieldwork Refresher 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 workshops on photogrammetry, flint knapping and research skills. Each of these gave us the opportunity to share specialist knowledge with the attendees. As with the lectures, the workshops provided the perfect opportunity to draw on MOLA’s range of world-class specialists including CITiZAN’s Oliver Hutchinson for a session on photogrammetry, as well as to bring in external experts including Dr James Dilley, an expert on the experimental archaeology of the Prehistoric period.

“I have been interested in flint tools since I was a child and this workshop has made me appreciate the level of skill involved in flint knapping.”

Attendee at flint knapping workshop

“I have a general interest in the Thames and previously attended TDP lectures and walks. I now have a better understanding of pivotal role London had in ship building and better understanding of ship breaking activities.”

Lecture attendee

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James Dilley leading the flint knapping workshop (TDP/Nathalie Cohen)

Newly trained FROG members at Rotherhithe in 2018 (TDP/Helen Johnston)

legacy The partnership between Tideway and the Thames Discovery Programme has lasted five years. This is an impressive period of time for a project like this and the sustained support has had a profound impact on the work of the TDP, especially on our capacity 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 forward has been an important 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 Lottery Heritage Fund. This project will see the groundwork established over the last 5 years built on with the formation of a TDP Young Archaeologists Club, and the delivery of new, exciting co-produced activities with schools and families. This new chapter for the Thames Discovery Programme is testament to the strength of the Tideway project and creates a fantastic legacy for it moving forward.

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Acknowledgements The work of this project would not have been possible without many individuals. At the Thames Discovery Programme, I would like to thank colleagues both past and present, Nathalie Cohen, Helen Johnston, Will Rathouse and Eliott Wragg for supporting the planning and delivery of activities. At MOLA, all the staff who have supported throughout the project, but in particular Magnus Copps, for line managing the project and providing a vital eye over everything produced. From Tideway, Kelly Bradley, Monica Lobo, Josie Murray Jack Russell, John Sage, Ken Whitaker and Liz Wood-Griffiths who have all at various points at the project given their advice, asked the probing questions and provided support. Finally, to all the TDP volunteers, Tadpoles, parents, teachers and attendees of events 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/Stewart Turkington) 20