Painted Door and Sneck in Eccleshill
There is more than one way to ‘shut that door’ or gate including the use of a catch, bolt, bar, lock, hook, hasp or some other fastening. Here on Gods Own County we are ‘locked and loaded’ with a Yorkshire sneck. They are still in common use for outside lavatories, outhouses and garden sheds.
Construction of a Sneck
- Used since the early 15th century a sneck is an iron latch made by a blacksmith.
- There is generally a lever to lift a cross bar and then a catch point to sneck or latch into.
- Importantly there is also a lever through the door on the inside or you would be in danger of ‘two old ladies stuck in the lavatory’.
- The sneck can be used vertically but more commonly horizontally as above.
- Further north in Scotland you can ‘sneck’ a window catch or use sneck as a verb when closing the lid of a tin.
- By contrast a deadbolt latch has a bolt to slide into a strike plate.