The Locksmith's House (formerly Willenhall Lock Museum) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in Willenhall, England. The premises, on New Road, consist of a house and backyard

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

s, typical of the many family run lock making businesses which once thrived in the town.

Background

The house itself was built in 1840, but the period interiors date to 1904, when the Hodson lock making family first lived there. Lock making skills are demonstrated by volunteers using original tools and equipment, such as the floor press and belt driven

machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...

ry. The Lock Museum was opened to the public in 1987. Since 2003, it has been owned and managed by the Black Country Living Museum.

The buildings

The house and its adjoining

s and outbuildings were awarded Grade II listed status by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

in 1984 and 1986. The listed structures include the two storey workshop on the East side of the yard plus the single storey workshop (originally a stamping shop) on the West side of the yard, directly adjoining the back of the house.

Richard Hodson & Sons

The business of Richard Hodson & Sons was established in 1792, according to the firm's letterhead. In 1893, it was taken on by John Hodson, who later passed it to his son Edgar. The Hodsons specialised in bar padlocks and also in lighter locks - these locks would have been used to secure cargo on a lighter. Lock parts were manufactured and assembled in the two storey workshop behind the house. Completed orders would have been brought into the yard and loaded into carts. From here they could have been sent all over the world, by rail or via the extensive Midlands canal network and on to coastal ports. Hodson locks were certainly exported to South America and beyond.

The Drapers' Shop

From the 1920s, the front room of the Locksmith's House was run as a drapers' shop by two of Edgar Hodson's sisters, Edith and Flora. The Hodson Shop operated until 1971, and the unsold stock forms a rich resource on working class costume, now in the care of

Walsall Museum Walsall Museum was a small, local history museum located in the centre of Walsall in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands. The holdings of Walsall Museum ranged from seventeenth-century firemarks to twenty-first century posters. There was al ...

The Lock Gallery

There is a wide variety of locks and keys on display in the gallery, many of which were made in Willenhall.

References

External links

Locksmiths House page on Black Country Living Museum Website
{{Black Country Living Museum Willenhall Locksmithing museums Black Country Living Museum Buildings and structures in Walsall History museums in the West Midlands (county) Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)