Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:43:53.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Archaeology of Personal Security: Metal-Detector Finds of Early Modern Letter-Combination Padlocks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Extract

Three recent finds of keyless letter-combination locks reflect the growth in the need for personal security during the early modern period. Although geographically distant from each other, the fact that the three padlocks in question share many of the same distinguishing characteristics is indicative of their manufacture by a single specialist producer. Alternatively, one manufacturer may have sold blanks to traders who personalized the lock once they found a buyer, in which case the locks are the work of two manufacturers — a maker and a finisher — which implies a widespread network of professional and casual makers within the locksmithing trade.

Type
Other
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dyer, C 1989. Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages. Social Change in England c. 1200-1520, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eras, V J M 1957. Locks and Keys Throughout the Ages, DordrechtGoogle Scholar
Gaimster, D and Stamper, P 1997. ‘Introduction,’ in The Age of Transition. The Archaeology of English Culture 1400-1600 (eds Gaimster, D and Stamper, P), Soc Medieval ArchaeolGoogle Scholar
Monogr, Ser, 15, Oxbow Monogr, 98, ix–xiii, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Goodall, I H 1981. ‘The medieval blacksmith and his products’, in Medieval Industry (ed Crossley, D W), CBA Res Rep, 40, 5162, LondonGoogle Scholar
Goodall, I H 1990. ‘Locks and keys’, in Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester: Artefacts from Medieval Winchester, Winchester Studies, vii (ed Biddle, M), 1001–36, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Hundsbichler, H 1986. ‘Wohnen’, in Altag im Spdtmittelalter (ed Kiihnel, H), 254–69, Graz/Vienna/CologneGoogle Scholar
Johnson, MH 1995. An Archaeology of Capitalism, LondonGoogle Scholar
S, Margeson (ed) 1993. Excavations in Norwich 1972-1978. The Finds, E Anglian Archaeol Rep, 58, NorwichGoogle Scholar
Noel Hume, I 1991. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America, 2nd edn, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Pounds, N 1994. The Culture of the English People. Iron Age to Industrial Revolution, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, G 1856. A Treatise on Fire and Thief-proof Depositories and Locks and Keys, LondonGoogle Scholar
D, Starkey (ed) 1991. Henry VIII. A European Court in England, exh cat, National Maritime Museum, LondonGoogle Scholar
Turner Berry, W and Johnson, A F 1935. Catalogue of Specimens of Printing Types by English and Scottish Founders 1665-1830, LondonGoogle Scholar