Among the items in stock at Till and Whitehead, you will find lots of keys, locks, padlocks and other security devices. Have you ever wondered how these items developed into the components we take so much for granted today? As you will read, there has probably been less development over the centuries than you might imagine!

Keeping property safe and secure has been a preoccupation of mankind since the dawn of civilization. The ancient Egyptians, over 3500 years ago, used bolts with wooden pegs and bars in a system not at all unlike our modern pin and tumbler locks, so there is an argument for saying that not a lot separates their achievements from those of Linus Yale in the mid - 19th century.

However, though many of the basic designs of lock may be recognisable throughout history, a great deal of change took place in the craft and workmanship of those designs that reflects our own industrial history.

The Romans were as accomplished as locksmiths as they were in many other spheres. Working in iron and bronze, with some amazing decorative padlocks depicting birds and beasts, they tended to concentrate on 'warded' locks, where so-called wards or obstructions prevent any but the right key from being inserted. These differed from the Egyptian pin-tumbler style, which remained undeveloped for many centuries to come.

The Middle Ages really do little more than chart the developing complexity of warded locks, which became so intricate and extravagant in their workmanship that each craftsman would vie with the next to produce more decoration and figurative design. So, while these years saw the development of locksmithing as creative art form, very little was done to improve the products mechanically.

It was not until 1778 that Robert Barron, returning to the Egyptian tumbler principle, produced his double acting lever lock, which gave rise to the later improvements of Joseph Bramah and Jeremiah Chubb. In the following century the English market, celebrating the 1851 Great Exhibition, was alarmed by an American lockmaker, Hobbs, who claimed to be able to pick any lock in Britain - a boast that he went on the fulfil. This was a severe blow to the pride of the security-conscious Victorians, who set about lockmaking with a new vigour. However, it is to two Americans, Linus Yale Snr. And Jnr., that the credit must go for developing the ultimate answer the cylinder lock. Not only was this lock, based on Egyptian pin-tumbler principles, much more secure than any predecessor, but it was also cheap to manufacture in quantity. Yale Snr. Produced a round-pin lock, but his son perfected the device further in 1861-5 with a flat-pin design that was ideal for mass-production. The rest, as they say, is history.

England has always been a centre of lock-making, particulary the Midlands towns centred around Willenhall, where at one time hundreds of factories produced from sheet metal hand-made locks that were distributed throughout the industrialised world. Conditions were harsh and brutal in these 'sweatshop' workplaces, with child labour producing many of the necessary components and blanks. Willenhall alone had 340 such factories in 1885, producing an enormous quantity of padlocks, mortice locks, door locks and rim locks, mostly in iron, but with fine quality items also made of plate and brass. Each town has its speciality - Wednesbury, Darlaston, Wolverhampton, Sedgeley and Birmingham itself - and fine lockmaking traditions still continue in some of them.

Today, for the most part, automatic production methods and computerised security systems have replaced the skills of hand manufacture. But when you next buy a humble padlock or mortice from T&W, think a little about its origins and development from that all-wood Egyptian original. History can be briefer than you might think!