Quote Originally Posted by chubbbramah View Post
The Brooking Collection appears to be approaching having a [permanent?] home and future
https://thebrooking.org.uk/?trk=publ...project-button

It was originally in Charles Brooking's home and several sheds in his back garden, but his continued collecting meant many items were in store and could not be displayed or even reached. And so much information about items was only in Charles' head.

Though Charles is passionate about windows and their fitting — little items of ironmongery that are so important to our daily living — he has also collected many locks along the way.
The collection resided for a quarter century in Greenwich, but now seems to have a safer future, as some others have also recognised its importance to architectural history.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Charles at his present location in Whitchurch, not far from Horsham.
As you say, it has been an uphill battle to get sponsored, but in 2023 a board of trustees was established, and the mammoth job of cataloguing everything has been continuing for some years.

Charles has managed to present some of the collection in a most attractive form, so that it is easy to compare different forms arranged in close proximity. As he told me, a major problem had been that vandalism of London heritage has increased year by year, as overseas visitors were buying properties, followed by ripping out the original details so s to tie in with fshion.. Thus his time was fully occuoied by "London skip diving", with no time to catalogue and lay out the collection. This has now been taken in hand.
Thanks for pointing out his lock collection-I had completly overlooked same. It is well worth a visit, perhaps as a group, because of the £25 visit charge.
Martin.