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I came across these two locks, leading into two separate sleeping quarters, at a great house date from the 17th century. However, the first floor would have been added in the eighteenth.




My question rests on why one of the locks has two knobs ?

My research online led me first to Hampton Court, and then to an auction site, with it's description of a similar design, it only having the one knob however:

"Besides the latch bolt, which turns by the fancy handle, there are two dead bolts; one turns with the key and the other with a knob."

REFERENCES
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/middx/plate-111
http://www.greatestcollectibles.com/18c ... 5o7ii2cbUL

So the door can be locked from one side at night with a key and at other times from the inside without a key. Imagine a servant going into a room regularly to make the tea (or use some other expensive comodity) and needing to lock the door whilst in there but then someone else needing to lock the door securely at other times.

These locks were on different doors.

There were an insufficient number of volunteers that day and so I was unable to see the other side of the doors.

Finally able to get physical access to the lock I can confirm that the latch mechanism will lock (open) when the door knob is rotated to open the door, with the one of two knobs releasing the latch.

This feature was to allow the passage of ladies between their respective powdering rooms with ease.

The second knob on a different lock would reveal a sliding bolt to lock the door, as it opened on to a public staircase.

Mystery solved.

Those Victorians knew how to make locks and hand made ..none of your mass production stuff.

But the guy who fitted It must have had been on the sherry ...as I don't think I would have been paid for that job.





Cheers

Ringo