460 ON THE PRICE OF BUILDING MATERIALS, ETC. 



are purchased and distinguished. The former are a great deal 

 cheaper than the latter. 



LOCKS AND KEYS. The price of these articles varies greatly. 

 I do not intend to refer on the present occasion to any other 

 kinds than those which are employed on domestic and farm 

 buildings. Many of these locks have survived in ancient struc- 

 tures, as churches and college libraries and muniment rooms, 

 to the present day, and are evidence of the extent to which the 

 locksmith's art had progressed at a period even earlier than the 

 present. (Vol. I, p. 511.) 



A granary lock is bought at Alton Barnes in 1401 for u., 

 a lock and key in London (1404) for $d., and again in 1410 for 

 yd. Another is bought at Hoxon in 1414 for 3^., and ten at 

 Oxford in 1422 for 5.$-. 6d., probably for sets of college cham- 

 bers. In 1427 three locks and keys are bought at $d. by the 

 Takley bailiff. In 1430, the Alton Barnes bailiff buys a granary 

 and a privy lock at $d. each, and eight locks and keys are 

 purchased by New College for $s. 6d. Next year New College 

 purchases a lock and key for Vine Hall, one of the dependen- 

 cies of the college, for iod., this being clearly a lock to the 

 outer door. In 1433 a lock and key to a chamber door costs 

 4*/., and in 1431 forty-three locks, keys, and staples are pur- 

 chased in London for New College, perhaps to put on college 

 chambers, at a total cost of 235-. id. Two locks and keys are 

 bought by the Lullington bailiff at ^d. each, and in 1438 a lock 

 and key in London for 6d. In the same place, in 1446, two 

 locks and keys are bought at 6d., and one at Sd. In 1449, four 

 locks for King's College chest cost lod. each, another lock and 

 key at London 8d., and a lock and five keys at Oxford is. 8d. 

 In 1453 a l c k an d key at Fountain's abbey costs 6d., six locks 

 and keys in London 35. yd. Two locks at Coleshull in 1459 

 are bought at 4^., and an iron twist to the hall door is bought 

 for 6d. In 1463, seventeen locks and keys are bought at 

 Woodstock for yd. each, and in 1467 a lock for the larder at 

 King's College for yd. In 1483 two locks are bought at Stoke 

 at 3^., two at 4^., and four locks and keys at Ban well in 1484 



