You need a permit from the Port of London Authority to search the Thames foreshore, and in September 2026 you cannot get one: the waiting list has passed 10,000 people and new registrations are suspended. You do not need a permit to walk on the foreshore and look at what is lying there. The difference between looking and searching is the whole of this subject, and it is the fact most often got wrong.
This page sets out the rules as the PLA states them, the legal way for a visitor to take part, how the tides work, which stairs get you down to the river, and what people actually find. Nothing here is a substitute for the PLA's own Code of Practice, which every permit holder must follow.
The rules in one box
- Searching, metal detecting, beachcombing, scraping or digging
- Requires a current PLA foreshore permit. No exceptions
- Walking on the foreshore and looking
- No permit needed, as long as you are not searching in any way
- Permits available
- 4,000 standard permits and 50 creative permits in total
- Waiting list
- Capped at over 10,000; new registrations of interest suspended
- Minimum age
- 12. Permit holders under 16 must be with a permit-holding adult
- Where permits are valid
- West of the Thames Barrier, upstream to Richmond Lock, with restrictions shown on the PLA's map
Why a permit exists at all
All foreshore in the United Kingdom belongs to someone. Searching, metal detecting and digging are not public rights, so they need the landowner's permission. On the tidal Thames the PLA and the Crown Estate are the largest landowners, and they jointly issue a single permit, administered by the PLA.
The number is capped deliberately. The PLA describes the foreshore as London's longest archaeological site, with finds going back to 10,000 BCE, and as the edge of the busiest inland waterway in the country. Four thousand standard permits at any one time is the limit it has set to protect both.
The permit covers "all searching, metal detecting, 'beachcombing', scraping and digging", in the PLA's own words, "in any way for any reason". There is no casual exemption for turning over a stone to see what is underneath.
You almost certainly cannot get a permit as a visitor. Demand was so high that the PLA capped the waiting list at 10,000 and then suspended new registrations of interest altogether. Permits last one year from issue and do not renew automatically. Anyone offering to sell, lend or share a permit is offering something the PLA does not allow: everyone mudlarking must hold their own.
Photo: Acabashi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
The legal way to take part in one afternoon
The PLA's own answer to this is a guided tour, and it names one: the Thames Explorer Trust, whose registered mudlarking sessions are run with an archaeology guide. The PLA describes them as particularly suitable for anyone wanting a one-off experience, and says openly that using them leaves the limited permits for people who mudlark regularly.
That is a rare thing: a regulator recommending a specific route because it reduces pressure on its own scheme. If you want to handle finds on the Thames foreshore legally and on a single visit, this is the way to do it. Book ahead; sessions are tide-dependent and the number of dates in any month is small.
Any other group activity on the foreshore, including a walk or a guided tour that does not disturb the surface, needs written permission from the PLA in advance. If a tour involves any disturbance of the foreshore, that has to be specified in the application. So a genuine operator will have permission; ask.
Looking without searching: what that means in practice
You may go down onto the foreshore and walk along it. You may look at what is on the surface. You may photograph it. What you may not do is disturb anything to find out what is there: no raking, no scraping the mud with a finger, no turning over stones, no detector.
This is less limiting than it sounds. On a good low tide the beach below the South Bank or at Rotherhithe is covered in what the river has already exposed: bones, clay pipe stems, fragments of transfer-printed pottery, oyster shells, roof tile, the odd Victorian bottle. Clay pipe stems in particular are everywhere, because London smoked for three hundred years and the pipes broke constantly.
Leave it where it is. Taking an object you found on the surface is still removing an object from the foreshore, and the permit conditions exist precisely to control that. Photograph it and put it back.
Tides: the part that is actually dangerous
The Thames in London is tidal, with a range of around seven metres on a spring tide. The water does not creep in; it comes up fast, and it comes up behind you as well as in front of you, because the foreshore is not flat. People are cut off every year.
- Check the tide before you go. The PLA publishes tide tables and current tide levels on its website, including a mobile version. Nothing else is a substitute.
- Aim for the two hours either side of low water and leave before the turn, not at it.
- Know your exit before you go down. River stairs are widely spaced and a locked or closed set is a serious problem. The PLA has closed access to Church Stairs in Rotherhithe from the foreshore until further notice for safety reasons, so anyone planning to use those needs another route.
- Watch for wash. A passing boat throws a wave up the beach with no warning.
- Do not go alone, and tell someone where you are.
River stairs are slipperier than they look. The lower steps are under water twice a day and are covered in algae. Go down facing the steps, hold the rail, and wear boots with a grip rather than trainers. Our guide to what to pack for London covers footwear; for this, waterproof and grippy beats warm.
Where the stairs are, roughly
Public access points to the foreshore are marked on the PLA's foreshore map and are concentrated on the stretch between Westminster and Greenwich. The best-known are on the South Bank near the Tate Modern and at Gabriel's Wharf, on the north bank at Queenhithe and around the Tower, and on both banks at Wapping and Rotherhithe.
Which of them are open and safe changes, which is why the PLA's map and its notices matter more than any list published elsewhere, including this one. Our guides to Southwark and Bankside and Wapping and Rotherhithe cover the streets above; the bridges of London is a good way to plan a riverside walk that takes you past several sets of stairs.
What people actually find
The honest answer is: mostly broken pottery, clay pipes, bone, glass, brick and oyster shell, in enormous quantity. The photographs that circulate of Tudor shoe buckles and medieval pilgrim badges are real but they are the result of hundreds of hours on the beach by people who have held permits for years.
The Thames preserves organic material unusually well, because the mud is anaerobic: leather, wood and textile survive here in a way they do not on dry land. That is why the river has produced so much that matters archaeologically, and why the PLA is so protective of it.
Permit holders are expected to record what they find with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The PLA's renewal criteria require a substantive and recorded history of reporting finds to the PAS, which tells you how seriously it takes the point. A find of real significance belongs in the public record, not in a drawer.
If you want to see what the river has produced without going down to it, the London Museum is the place; its collections are built partly on Thames material.
Taking children
The PLA does not issue permits to anyone under 12, and says that under-16s on the foreshore should always be supervised by a parent or guardian. A permit holder under 16 must be accompanied by an adult who also holds a permit.
For a family, that makes a guided session the only realistic option, and the good news is that it suits children well: a short, tide-bound window, something to look at every few steps, and a guide who can explain what a piece of pipe stem was for. Our family guide to London has more on activities that hold up in bad weather, which this one does not.
Keep hands away from faces until they have been washed, cover any cuts before you go down, and treat broken glass and rusted metal as the main hazard rather than the water.
Other ways to get close to the river
If the permit position has put you off, the foreshore is not the only way to meet the Thames. A river boat gives you the same water from above: our guides to Thames river cruises and the Uber Boat river bus cover the difference between sightseeing and transport. Totally Thames fills each September with river events, some of them on the foreshore itself.
Walking the river is free; see our list of free things to do in London. Tower Bridge and Greenwich both sit on stretches with good low-tide views from above, and for a completely different piece of London's water network, see Little Venice and the Regent's Canal. Guided options across the city are in the best walking tours in London, and the wider list of activities is under family days and experiences.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a permit to mudlark in London?
Yes. The Port of London Authority requires a current foreshore permit for anyone searching the tidal Thames between Teddington and the Thames Barrier in any way and for any reason, including metal detecting, beachcombing, scraping and digging. You do not need one simply to walk on the foreshore and look.
Can I get a Thames foreshore permit as a tourist?
In practice, no. There are 4,000 standard permits, the waiting list passed 10,000 people, and the PLA has suspended new registrations of interest. The PLA's own recommendation for a one-off experience is to join a registered guided mudlarking session with an archaeology guide instead.
Can you keep what you find on the Thames foreshore?
Only under the conditions of a valid permit, and permit holders are expected to record finds with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Without a permit you should not be removing anything, because collecting objects from the foreshore is part of what the permit governs. Photograph it and leave it.
Is mudlarking on the Thames dangerous?
The tide is the real risk. The Thames in London rises several metres twice a day and can cut people off, and access stairs are widely spaced and sometimes closed, as at Church Stairs in Rotherhithe. Check the PLA's tide tables, plan your exit before you go down, and do not go alone.
What is the minimum age for mudlarking?
The PLA does not issue permits to anyone under 12, because of the hazards of the foreshore. Permit holders under 16 must be accompanied by an adult who also holds a permit, and the PLA says under-16s on the foreshore should always be supervised by a parent or guardian.
Sources
- Port of London Authority - Thames foreshore permits (checked September 2026)
- Port of London Authority - Thames tide predictions (checked September 2026)
- Port of London Authority - Searching the Thames Foreshore Code of Practice (checked September 2026)
- Portable Antiquities Scheme - recording archaeological finds (checked September 2026)