The Locks (Lockes) were a branch of the Boswell family. The story goes that the Locks earned their new name because they were kushti at picking farmers' padlocked gates at night so that they could graze their grai [horses]. By morning they had moved on, and the farmers never knew!
In the late 19th century one of the Locks fought Seth Lovell over a travelling circuit in North West Wales. Seth lost, so in accordance with Romany law he moved his family down to South Wales.
Some Locks and Boswells travelled between Shropshire and North Wales.
Two families of Locks turn up in the 1901 census for Anglesey (North West Wales). R Lock, Sophar and 4 children (one called Charles) lived in a caravan at Penmynydd. The father was a horse-dealer. All the family were born in Shropshire.
At Llansadwrn Charles Lock, Mary and 4 children also lived in a caravan and were neighbours to a van full of Boswells. Charles was a horse-dealer born in St Asaph, his wife in Chester, and the children on Anglesey.
By the 1920/30s a Charles Lock (which one?) and family were living in tents on the flat sand behind the dunes of Tywyn Trewan (now partly beneath the runways of RAF Valley).
Well into the 1970s a Mrs Lock lived in a cottage called Ceint between Pentre Berw and Llangefni. She was visited by young women, eager for her to tell their fortunes.
In turn, the Dixons were a branch of the Locks.
An unknown tribe of Romanies regularly visited Cemaes on Anglesey at least until the 1940s. These visitors comprised three to five families who travelled with horses and carts and set down their tents in the fields at Cefn Coch. Their stay lasted about 4 weeks at a time.
Information with contributions from
Dafydd Gates, Brenda Hughes-Davies
and Bob Lovell.
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