This key was used at the Post Office in Blockley, near Shipston-on-Stour, in Worcestershire. The post office burnt down in 1903. In the 19th century there were a number of locksmiths manufacturing keys in Birmingham. However since Elizabethan times, Willenhall in Staffordshire has been a centre for lock making. In the mid 19th century, most locksmiths were small family run businesses which may have had up to two apprentices. The main part of the production of locks and keys was forging, similar to the work of a blacksmith, involving hammering out pieces of wrought iron. After the 1870s more keys were cast when a new technique made cast iron more malleable and less brittle.