"London Outskirts"

In Wapping you can find pieces of clay pottery and other artifacts along the Thames.

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No longer cut back, brush and small trees grow between and overtop the many graves. East Ham is super urbanized, lacking hardly any other open space, so all the vegetation attracts foxes, hedgehogs, small mammals and plenty of birds. Birds often seen at the reserve include Robins, Thrushes, Redwings Swallows and the oddly-named Great Tit.

Three trails loop through the overgrown graves. The Germans bombed East Ham heavily during the war because it was near strategically important docks. While walking along the trails, you will see several gravestones damaged by bombs that fell into the church yard. Around dusk the church is very photogenic. It's also more than a little eerie.

The visitor center by the entrance has a few small nature exhibits. At the visitor center be sure to pick up one of very detailed, illustrated booklets on the plants, birds and animals in the reserve.

Eastham is the farthest out. If you have a zone 1 and 2 Underground pass, you will need to pay for an extension to zone 3 while still in the first two zones. Take the underground to the East Ham station, than board the A13 bus from the station to the junction of High Street South and Norman Road. It's about a ten minute ride. The reserve's phone is 0181-470-4525. Hours are Tuesday-Friday 10-5 and Saturday and Sunday 2pm to 5pm. Entrance Free.

Like much of East London, the borough is a mix of Cockney (white working-class), Indian, and Pakistani. Indian restaurants line the street outside the metro. The food is very affordable but very hot. Be sure to order rice.

Several staircases lead down from Wapping High Street to the river. You have to come near low tide of course so the river banks are exposed. The first thing you will see are the remains of clay pipes discarded by generations of dockworkers. Pipe stems litter the banks by the thousands. Some still bear the designs or the names of their manufacturers. The pipe remnants range from the 1700s to the early twentieth century.

Besides clay tobacco pipe remains, there are plenty of pottery and china fragments, probably from shipments broken on the docks. Most of the fragments are pieces of typical British pottery: blue and white and showing scenes such as rivers passing through sheep covered hills. If you are an Anglophile like myself this will drive you wild. But even if you are not obsessed with all things old and British you will probably find exploring the banks to be fascinating.

You might find more than pipe and pottery remains. A National Geographic story a few years back reported on a regular artifact hunter who has found scores of perfectly preserved pipes and even Roman coins on the banks near Wapping.

I've never gotten sick from mucking about on the banks but you might want to wear gloves. Also bring some old shoes. Watch the tide which rises fast. Tides are reported in all London newspapers.

Important: The law allows you to take whatever you may find on the surface but you need a permit to dig.