File:Medieval barrel padlock (slide) key (FindID 184893).jpg

English: A damaged, but complete cast copper-alloy slide key for a padlock. It is looped at one end, presumably for suspension. The loop is circular (int. dia.: 6.3mm) with an off-centre pointed knop at the top. The bow is collared, with a flattened sphere below the loop, a transverse ridge below this, before a thick rectangular section (th.: 4.3mm). Below the elaborate collar the bow is rectangular in cross-section, measuring 1.7mm in thickness. The bit is 'H' shaped in cross-section with a thickness across the wards of 4.9mm. The metal has corroded to a dull dark grey suggesting a high level of lead/tin in the alloy. The bow has been dramatically bent in two places: downwards after the collar and dramatically upwards just beyond the half way point (L. when complete: 60+ mm). Examples of padlock keys in the literature include some illustrated in Egan (1998, 101; refs. 258, 259) and in Margeson (1993, 162; ref. 1312). These examples vary in date, from around 1200 onwards. Although such slide keys were evidently in use throughout the medieval period the elaborate shank with its collars suggests a date around the 14th century.