Snecks and bean latches, Suffolk latches and plain thumb latches

They come under many names - sneck in Northern Britain, bean latch in New England and suffolk latch in old England and most of Britain - but essentially they are all the same. The design is based on a handle incorporating a moving thumb-piece which operates a lever going through the door. This lifts, or lets fall, a latchbar on the other side which in turn meets a keeper on the doorframe.

At Forgeries we have a range of parts - with more to come - extras and additions to our basic Suffolk latch, mix-and-match, all copied from originals spotted all over Britain. There are five different latch bars, four different staples (to hold the latchbar in place) and three different keepers. And if the choice defeats you we offer a standard sneck set complete. And if you want more choice we can offer a Queen Ann Suffolk Latch, a cabbage Suffolk latch, an arrowhead Suffolk latch and many more, to order. And if you just need odd bits to complete an old original Suffolk Latch, we can help.

Forgeries Online

Spike Staple

Spike Keeper