The lock smiths

摘要

Each time you crunch into a lock gate it would be no surprise if a little psychic shudder was felt at Stanley Ferry - for this quiet stretch of the Aire & Calder is where many of the network's lock gates are made, and it's very much a site of craftsmanship and family tradition. On first sight it's a curious place - enter the yard and you're surrounded by freshly made oak gates of all shapes and sizes lying flat and dripping with water in the early morning sun to stop their green oak drying out, rather like beached whales waiting patiently for a return to the water; the water in the gates' cases being denoted by markings on their sides - Middlewood Deep Top, Man Bolton Bury No.3, Derwent Mouth Bottom... You might think a lock gate is a lock gate, but step across the yard into the main workshop and that illusion evaporates quickly in the warm smell of freshly sawn oak as differing gate designs are being fashioned with traditional hammers and chisels, and the occasional not-so-traditional chainsaw.