In the early evening of 2 October, helpers were turning up at St Andrew's to set up for our Harvest Supper, but it proved impossible to unlock the door. Thanks to very generous help from the Moonrakers pub, we were able to move the event at the last minute to their function room, where it proved an excellent evening.
But this left the problem of the lock. Thankfully, a local locksmith was able to come out next day and over a few days was able not only to get the lock working again, but also to repair the latch which was in danger of failing.
The lock itself appears to date back to the Victorian restoration of the building. The locksmith pointed out the little details that reflected the craftsmanship of the time. On the lock casing, for example, despite being invisible as it's normally inside the door, a pair of slots have decorative finials at their ends:
The lock had failed because of wear that meant the keys were not going in straight. The sequence below shows how he built the worn brass back up to support the key: this had to be done on both sides of the lock (the image may be too wide to work well when viewed on a phone):
The latch had become worn because during a repair decades earlier, the latch mechanism had been refitted incorrectly. Over time, part of the latch mechanism had worn away. The sequence below shows how it was repaired (again, this image may be too wide to work well on a phone):
Finally, the lock was reassembled so we could see the full Victorian mechanism:
Our huge thanks to J. P. Locksmith Services for this remarkable repair that should keep our lock working for decades to come.