FERGUS – Mary-Ann and David Tinsley can’t find the lock they placed on the Love Lock Sculpture in Fergus 10 years ago.
“It’s here somewhere,” David said, deciding it doesn’t matter where it is anyways.
It had been ages since the couple, now married 24 years, had returned to the Love Lock Sculpture just off Tower Street near St. Andrew’s Church but they were the first to place a lock on it when it was first installed by the Fergus BIA in September 2014.
A love lock is a padlock usually put onto a bridge, fence or sculpture to symbolize a couple’s love and commitment to each other.
This part of Fergus has been associated with couples in love long before the Love Lock Sculpture was erected and or even thought of.
Not far from the sculpture is the Kissing Stone, also known as the Kissing Stane, which was historically a popular place for young couples in the 1800s and seen as a good luck spot.
Fergus historian Pat Mestern said the stone was seen as a congregating point in general as it sat in James Square. She explained James Square acted as a central meeting place in town, largely until Templin Gardens was built in the late 1920s, with a bandstand at one time where public events took place.
“People would say ‘I’ll meet you at the stone’ then couples began to meet at the stone and it became the Kissing Stane,” Mestern said.
Couples weren’t really supposed to kiss in public at this time but it was seen as acceptable at the Kissing Stone.
“Couples could then meet and have a kiss and nobody would say anything. Then it became some place where the couples actually went and asked for their hand in marriage and that sort of thing. It really became associated with love.”
Included in those who got engaged at the Kissing Stone are Mestern’s parents and one set of grandparents.
At one time, the stone was nearly blown up by a group who decided it would be better if it wasn’t there anymore to build a new bandstand, according to Mestern, but her grandfather wasn’t too far away and he came and stopped it as dynamite was being put into holes drilled on the rock — those holes are still visible today.
“That was a place that meant a lot to him,” Mestern said.
It means a lot to Mestern too. One of the last memories she has with her late-husband Teddy before his dementia took hold was putting in a lock at the sculpture for them and one for Mestern’s parents.
“Even after Teddy sort of lost his connections to things, we always had to go there if I was driving, he’d point right away and I would stop and we would go in and he would look at the locks,” Mestern said.
Others in the community have their own personal connection to the Love Lock Sculpture and it’s not always about romantic love.
Jillian Smith and three friends placed a lock with the engraving “Soul Sisters” on it to celebrate their over 30-year-long friendship.
“We support one another through the hard times, and cherish each other's successes. In a world that is constantly changing, we find comfort in knowing that our friendship will never falter,” Smith said.
“We truly believe that the world would be a better place, if everyone could experience a friendship like ours. A bond so strong that you never have to worry about tackling life's challenges on your own. We look forward to visiting the gate as the years go by, and reminding ourselves that just like a lock and key, we have found the perfect fit in each other.”
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Elaine Hardy’s husband and his two sisters, visiting from England, placed three joined locks on it and now use it as a place of remembrance for loved ones birthdays, anniversaries and other special
The Tinsleys were there the day the sculpture went in, playing in the Fergus Pipe Band as part of its opening.
“I had my lock ready,” Mary-Ann said.
She said she glances at the sculpture when she drives by but they haven’t really gone back aside from one time to try to find their lock — which they couldn’t do on the recent visit.
There’s a lot more locks on since they put the first one on but not as many as Mary-Ann expected as she thinks it hasn’t been promoted very much.
“We could have done something a lot more commercial with it, but in a sense that’s a good thing (we didn’t),” Mary-Ann said. “Maybe it’s just something that the locals like having.”
