The Gunsmith's is an elegant timbered building with a recessed entrance and bowed shopfront. The home of a master craftsman, it would have been visited by gentry and so had to have a genteel aspect. A gentleman's order for a pair of sporting guns would keep a single craftsman busy for six months and was a valuable commission. Completed firearms were officially approved at the Proof House in Birmingham. This involved testing the finished barrel, the firing mechanism or lock, and the wooden stock. All three parts were marked with the same stamp -- 'Lock, Stock and Barrel.'