Identification of old lock

darryl

Hi,
Could anyone identify this old lock please? It used to be in an out house door of our property. Above the door we have 1793 but someone had a look and said because of the structure (wattle and daub plus lime with straw) it is probably much older.

The lock is cased in oak and is of a dovetail shape. Really grateful if any help can be offered.

Many thanks
Darryl

Paul Prescott

Known as a ‘ Banbury Lock ’ . In prodution up until the 1940’s or so and almost impossible to date accurately unless it’s a really fine example.

darryl

Thank you, Could you tell me when the Banbury lock went into production please?
Regards
Darryl

Locky

I have onr of these locks too. I made a key to it when I was working in England. The one I have is in much better condition. How would you go about dating it Paul?

Tom Gordon

It is hard to tell from the pictures but I would expect an older lock to have a larger keyhole. The mechanism would give some indication of age often too
Cheers
Tom

Billy B Edwards Jr. CML

Sorry for the delay in answering, I’m just getting around to looking at the pages beyond the first one.

I don’t know when these locks went into production in England, but they were an export item to the US before it was the US. I have one from a building in Virginia that was built in 1735 and except for the keyhole shape it looks like it was made from the same exact pattern.

They may have been invented or originally produced in Banbury, Oxfordshire, but that is just a guess.
BBE.