Two women outdoors in a bottle dump standing in front of a large mound of dirt. One woman is wearing a green jacket and a hat, and the other is in an orange jacket and a cap. Both are smiling.
Two women sitting on rocky ground outdoors, smiling while holding crystals, wearing hiking gear and plaid shirts.
A smiling woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a scarf, and a waterproof jacket, sitting on a river foreshore, holding a gold coin

The Northern Mudlarks

A short bit About Us

A young woman with long red hair, wearing a plaid shirt, black pants, rain boots, and a baseball cap, sits on the ground surrounded by broken glass bottles and holds two glass bottles in her hands.

We are Gail and Alex Hildreth, a mother and daughter team of artisans, story tellers and lifelong ‘treasure hunters,’a phrase that encompasses all we are – mudlarks, tip larks,

Two women outdoors in a grassy field, smiling for a selfie. One is wearing a black cap, headphones, and a blue jacket. The other is wearing a gray cap and a colorful jacket.
Two women outdoors in a grassy field, smiling for a selfie. One is wearing a black cap, headphones, and a blue jacket. The other is wearing a gray cap and a colorful jacket.

beachcombers, rockhounds, gem hunters and metal detectorists amongst other things!

 Originally from Northumberland in north east England, we now live in the stunning, rural Scottish Borders where we also make YouTube videos of life at our historic farmhouse and homestead. Our adventures are focused from the north of England up to central Scotland where we search river foreshores, burns (streams,) seashores, industrial wastelands, hillsides, fields, and abandoned mines on the wild fells (moors) where we discover a great range of weird and wonderful finds, from glowing crystals, gems and fossils to 1960’s dentures (I know,) to old bottles, shells, antique dolls, gold coins and ancient flint tools.

 At the end of 2019 we put our fears aside and posted our first YouTube video about our adventures. However, the journey to get there started back in 2015 when we discovered the magical multicoloured sea glass at Seaham in County Durham in the northeast of England. After building a large collection of Seaham sea glass we wondered what to do with it. This is when we decided to make and sell jewellery for the first time! At first, we made leather cord jewellery but soon began to expand our self-taught skills into copper and silver Jewell making.

A few years after our obsession with sea glass began, we decided to search YouTube for sea glass hunting videos. Surprisingly there were none. But what we did discover were videos about mudlarking! This exposed us to a whole new community of modern-day mudlarks based in London who searched the River Thames foreshore for historic treasures. Soon we made an Instagram account and began sharing pictures and stories of our finds. Eventually, in 2019 we uploaded our first mudlarking video on YouTube, which began the expansion of mudlarking beyond London and the Thames and allowed us to share our mudlarking adventures with the world. And the rest, they say, is history!

 We both have a real love of history, a trait that has come down through many generations. We have volunteered in many local archaeological excavations over the years and are constantly inspired by the past and its people, folklore and the legends of the lands in which we live. We have a particular passion for social history, the ordinary people who came before, how they lived, the things they made, used and cherished and the extraordinary stories about them that we uncover that bring them back to life. Most of our finds don’t have much in the way of monetary value, but their historic value, the stories they can tell and lessons they teach are invaluable and we are honoured to be able to share them with you.

Gail & Alex x