Locksmith's House facts for kids
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| Location | Willenhall, England |
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The Locksmith's House is a cool museum in Willenhall, England. It's a special place that shows what a family-run lock-making business was like long ago. You can explore the house and the workshops behind it.
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A Look Back in Time
The house was built way back in 1840. But the inside looks like it did in 1904, when the Hodson family, who made locks, first moved in.
Volunteers at the museum show you how locks were made. They use real tools and machines from the past. These include a big floor press and machines powered by belts.
The Locksmith's House first opened its doors as a museum in 1987. Since 2003, the Black Country Living Museum has taken care of it.
Exploring the Buildings
The house and its workshops are very important. They were given a special "Grade II listed" status in the 1980s. This means they are protected because of their history.
The listed buildings include a two-story workshop. This workshop is on the east side of the yard. There is also a single-story workshop on the west side. This smaller workshop was once used for stamping metal.
The Hodson Family Business
The Hodson family business, Richard Hodson & Sons, started in 1792. John Hodson took over the business in 1893. Later, his son Edgar continued the family tradition.
The Hodsons were very good at making certain types of locks. They specialized in strong bar padlocks. They also made lighter locks. These lighter locks were used to secure cargo on barges.
Lock parts were made and put together in the two-story workshop. Once orders were finished, they were loaded onto carts in the yard. From there, these locks could travel all over the world. They went by train or through the Midlands canal network to coastal ports. Hodson locks were even sent to places like South America!
The Drapers' Shop
From the 1920s, the front room of the Locksmith's House had a different purpose. Two of Edgar Hodson's sisters, Edith and Flora, ran a fabric shop there. This shop was called The Hodson Shop.
The shop stayed open until 1971. When it closed, all the unsold fabrics and clothes became a special collection. This collection helps us learn about what working-class people wore back then. It is now kept safe at Walsall Museum.
The Lock Gallery
Inside the museum, there is a special area called the Lock Gallery. Here, you can see many different kinds of locks and keys. Lots of these interesting items were made right there in Willenhall.
