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St. Stephens Gardens, Wolverhampton Street, WILLENHALL, WV13 2PU

This is in Wolverhampton Street, and very, very close to the grid square boundary. I couldn't establish what the poor chap was martyred for, but the name stands regardless.

Used for stamping out parts for locks and padlocks.

Looking in the direction of Wolverhampton Street.

Catching the December afternoon Sun beautifully; seen from New Road.

The Willenhall Lock Museum stands in New Road, but is under threat of closure.

On the corner of Wolverhampton Street and Gomer Street.

Tin boxes and drawers containing components and keys are scattered around the workshop at the museum. Willenhall was the centre of the lockmaking industry.

An unusual public opening for the threatened museum. The museum is an 1840s house and workshop used from the early 20th century by the Hodson family for the manufacture of padlocks. The daughters of the family had a drapery shop in the front parlour. The family lived in the house, sharing their scullery with the japanning finishing process. A trust purchased the house in 1983 and opened the Lock Museum in 1987. This operated until transferred to the Black Country Living Museum in 2005 for a nominal sum. In 2008 problems with low visitor numbers coupled with withdrawal of sponsorship by the lock industry and Walsall Council meant that the site was unviable and only pre-arranged parties were catered for. Plans to remove the workshop to the Black Country Living Museum were blocked by the planners. The BCLM announced that they had cancelled the plan in June 2010 due to budgetary constraints. This leaves the status of the Grade 2 listed building and contents with an uncertain future. The preferred option for it to remain unchanged is unviable but if it is sold on what would happen to the workshops and contents? Should we really be worried about the loss of a reminder of an industry that has departed these shores over the last twenty or thirty years in search of a cheap unskilled workforce in India and China? Visiting the museum today it was interesting to note how many of the visitors had worked in the lock making industry.

Demonstrating the process of forging the locking bars for the locks. Among other products Hodsons produced bar locks for securing gates and cattle compounds.

The parlour is decorated in the style from the early twentieth century when the Hodson family moved their lockmaking business to these premises on New Road.