514 ON THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS. 



Some locks were moveable, and are called padlocks, hanging 

 or fetter-locks; the first two being apparently identical. A: 

 average of twenty-three of these purchased before the time c 

 the Plague gives a little more than id. as the value of a pad c 

 hanging lock, while three bought afterwards give rather mor 

 than 5^. 



Fetter-locks seem to be articles constructed like handcuffs 

 that is, to have a semicircular plate of iron or steel, at the ex 

 tremities of which was another plate, turning by a hinge at on 

 end, and united by a screw at the other, the key fitting into th 

 head of the screw. They were chiefly used for horses whe: 

 fastened by stake or chain in pasture, or when clogged with 

 bar of wood, or when hampered, to prevent their getting awa) 

 I remember that such fetter-locks were used frequently i: 

 country places, and may be occasionally used now, though the 

 seem to be generally superseded by the common padlock. 



The reader will recognise, however, that no valid inferenc 

 can be drawn from these prices, for the siz,e of the lock mus 

 have been various ; and therefore, in the absence of any evi 

 dence as to its magnitude, there is no guarantee of uniformit 

 in the single articles whose money value is given. All tha 

 we can infer is that common locks to doors and chests couli 

 be bought at about i\d. before the year 1350, and that tfo 

 price rose considerably afterwards ; and further, that varietie 

 of locks, similar to those with which we are familiar, wer< 

 used from five to six centuries ago. 



The subjoined tables contain annual averages of laths, plaii 

 tiles, and tile-pins by the thousand ; lath-nails by the thousand 

 board or spike nails by the hundred ; and foreign millstone 

 by the highest rate paid in the year. The decennial average 

 are eight: i. laths; 2. plain tiles; 3. crests (by the hundred) 

 4. tile-pins; 5. lath-nails; 6. board-nails; 7. foreign millstones 

 8. Buckinghamshire millstones. 



