Dating tips? (For old locks)

[NigelKTolley]

Does anyone have any tips for dating old locks?

I run into quite a lot of them, repairing and making keys, etc. and most are over 150 years old, with church wards in the better houses and, well, churches.

The last ones I worked on, we dated to between 1820 and 1837 from the Royal Warrant, but they did look somewhat older than that to me. I can put up some photos if I can get Tapatalk to work. (Does anyone else have issues?)

I've seen plenty of locks with hand cut screws, which I take to date from pre-1800 usually, since pins, nails and threaded items were among the first to be mechanised. Firm dates would be good though!

[BBE]

Does anyone have any tips for dating old locks?

I run into quite a lot of them, repairing and making keys, etc. and most are over 150 years old, with church wards in the better houses and, well, churches.

The last ones I worked on, we dated to between 1820 and 1837 from the Royal Warrant, but they did look somewhat older than that to me. I can put up some photos if I can get Tapatalk to work. (Does anyone else have issues?)

I've seen plenty of locks with hand cut screws, which I take to date from pre-1800 usually, since pins, nails and threaded items were among the first to be mechanised. Firm dates would be good though!

Hello Nigel,

I am in the US and we don't see many warded locks with any quality. I am familiar with bridge, case and end wards but don't know what a church ward is. Can you explain? thanks,
BBE.

[NigelKTolley]

Church Ward and bridge wards are the same thing.

Bridge warding was far more expensive than just knocking a pin through the side of the case, so were only available to the rich and powerful, which became synonymous with churches. Many people call these big iron keys "Church keys" to this day around here. (English countryside near Wales)

[BBE]

Church Ward and bridge wards are the same thing.

Bridge warding was far more expensive than just knocking a pin through the side of the case, so were only available to the rich and powerful, which became synonymous with churches. Many people call these big iron keys "Church keys" to this day around here. (English countryside near Wales)

Thanks Nigel. You can understand my curiosity when you realize that in the US this is usually referred to as a church key.
BBE.

[Tom Gordon]

Coincidentally, one of the products that Squire Padlocks have made for years is a can opener.

[NigelKTolley]

I can see why. This type of church or bridge ward key was no doubt used for opening bottle caps before anyone had a purpose built opener!

They are still made, with only a slight tweak:

[Chris Belcher]

Church ward?. Did you mean warden? or is that phrase just used in your street

[NigelKTolley]

No, just me using the logical name for the locks that take 'Church keys'.

[chubbbramah]

No, just me using the logical name for the locks that take 'Church keys'.

'Church door lock' is a term for the large rim plate stock locks (typically, but not always) 2-bolt, having metal bands or other decoration in ecclesiastical style.
They were commercially produced from the end of the 18C until probably the 1920's. They were popular with gothic revival architects and (mainly Anglican) clergy, and the Arts and Crafts movement. They were used not only in churches but many other gothic and Arts and Crafts buildings, village hall, parsonages, and some country houses. They are stock locks of good quality and large size, and many are still in service.
Like stock locks generally, they have bridge wards. These are usually fine wards, but solid wards were invented c1819, so that is one limit of age. Many keys have ward cuts for sash wards. However, many serve only to impress the buyer. Earlier locks are more likely actually to have sash wards. Even when there are sash wards, later locks tend to have the sash wards on only one side, the backplate OR the cap but rarely both. Locks for churches, especially early in the 19C, are more likely actually to have wards on both backplate and cap.
Locks with a brass keyhole bush are better quality than plane plates, and seem to be uncommon pre-19C - but that is not much of a guide.

Iron-cased rimlocks date mainly from the late 16c. Before that, cases were uncommon. Plain brass rimlocks are uncommon before the 17c. The improvements in brass production in Britain, and sand-casting, made brass objects both more abundant and less expensive.
Early rimlocks have cover plates covering only the keyhole and middle part of the back of the lock. Later locks have backplates completely covering the lockcase. Large sheets of thin rolled iron became possible from 1720. Early lockcases had straight sides which are typically wedge-shaped in profile. Grooved rolls able to roll a great variety of sections were invented in 1783 but were not common until the next century.
Royal warrants have a long history, but goods really began to be marked with the royal arms and initials in the time of George IV. Queen Victoria greatly extended the practice of granting warrants, and many locks continued to be marked VR into the 20c, often with a crown, though without any warrant.

[NigelKTolley]

Thanks. I really must write up a crib sheet.

I find the dating tips useful, but the only way to be reasonably certain is to look at/for features that simply couldn't have been found before a certain date.

In stately homes, of which I look after a few, the locks are often bespoke, & dating is impossible as the locks may have been replaced at any point - many show signs of vandalism, with wards cut away! I opened a C17 lock on a cabinet recently thinking, & telling the staff member, that we were going to be the first people to see inside it for hundreds of years. A fine brass lock, but alas some gibbon had got there before me, & despite a reasonable looking key it had only a trace of a ward remaining, with the other two completely ground away!

I did a restoration on a nice, relatively modern rimlock last week, & again, only the case dimple wards remained. I added new steel pins & made two keys so that it at least would no longer take a blank!

Thanks again for the advice, I *have* used it over the years!