History of Locks
Developing Locksmith Stories
By Brian Morland
» THE HERITAGE COLLECTION IS WELL known for its historical lock collection ; perhaps not so well known is its archive containing hundreds of thousands documents . Like any other branch of archaeology this specialised branch of industrial archaeology of the locksmith and his products is equally important ; the documents bringing that extra enlightenment to the already fascinating mechanical machines that give us , as a species , peace of mind . These documents seem to come into our care at a steady rate ; and as we catalogue and index them into or Global Catalogue we realise that there might be more to a story we have previously recounted or it might even change our understanding of traditionally understood events . This of course is what happens as anybody recording any aspect of history does ; and it ’ s no different in our field .
The last couple of years has seen several important additions to our archive and include many interesting items . Items such as a series of Victorian ledgers , Directors Minute books and working instructions etc . found sealed into a roof space in the office block of Chatwoods in Shrewsbury . Parts of the site was being razed and re-developed ; when I drove up to get them I was shown around the site and saw some of the facilities from the old days including the power plant house and the concrete manufacturing plant . As I walked around there were many raised areas , flower beds , traffic management islands etc .; and then it struck me that these concrete retaining walls were in fact the modular
The Chatwood Village sports field featuring tennis court , football and hockey pitches .
The then state of the art Power plant which not only served the works and offices but also supplied the ‘ Village ’ as well .
blocks used in strong room construction . Unfortunately I wasn ’ t able to obtain any examples for the museum but I was pleased that later I would find within the technical drawings details of the various block sizes and types used for vault wall , floors and ceiling construction . I lamented that as the site was being razed I felt just one of the buildings would have made an excellent museum for the HoL Heritage Collection .
The reorganisation of another global safe company , restructuring for the 21st century , brought not only the most prestigious artefact in the lock world ( the Aubin Lock Trophy ) but , almost as an afterthought , one of the ex-Tann Directors asked if I wanted a pallet , piled high with old documents , and stored in an outbuilding . I don ’ t know how I got home that day such was my excitement when
The executives ’ offices , modern , light , spacious and airy .
Aerial view of Chatwood ’ s Shrewsbury works , railway siding and the Chatwood Village from around the middle of the 20th century . The two buildings in the middle of the picture , the offices , are where the ledgers were found sealed in the roof space .
Another aerial view of the works ; the Chatwood village on the left , the offices in the middle and works on the right . The main railway line , Crew / London railway line together with the branch to the works .
I realised it was the long lost Tann serial number registers known as the ‘ Finishing ’ books , and also contained company seals , test reports and photographs and considerable quantities of other documents ! The memory of Tann will live for a very long time as we read , document and add to our Global Catalogue .
Much of the established trade will remember Mike Fincher , he had eidetic memory and a passion for historic locks and their history ; several illustrated here . Now in long term care , his collection has now been added to the Heritage Collection ; this collection was also accompanied with a large amount of paperwork including all the letters he received or sent on locks ( he never threw anything lock related out ), some dating to the early 1950 / 60s . Again as I read these notes I frequently come across interesting snippets that he had jotted down , perhaps for use in some future article – for instance : -
* Liverpool Mercury for March 20th 1861 stated that Chatwood had Engaged the services of William Dawes , civil & mechanical engineer who had managed the Coalbrookedale Ironworks Shropshire for five years as chief engineer & that hence forth the firm would be called Chatwood & Dawes .
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JAN / FEB 2022
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