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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

MP021: Barnard, Bishop & Barnard

Barnard, Bishop and Barnard was a company based in Norwich that began to manufacture lawn mowers in the early 1860s. One of the company's innovations was to produce a "noiseless" mower that incorporated a friction drive between the roller and cutting cylinder instead of the usual gears. An early advertisement for this type of mower appears below.

Advertisement dated 1869 showing the Patent Noiseless lawn mower from Barnard, Bishop & Barnard.

The noiseless mower was not a great success although the company was still producing models to the same basic design well into the 20th century and the 1910 catalogue included machines with a variety of cutting widths.

Example of the Patent Noiseless lawn mower by Barnard, Bishop & Barnard.

The company also produced a range of gear driven lawn mowers, including some very narrow cutting widths such as the example shown below.

Very narrow gear-driven lawn mower by Barnard, Bishop & Barnard.

Barnard, Bishop & Barnard produced a range of gardening equipment and continued to produce mowers well into the 20th century. The company closed after the Second World War.

Examples of Barnard, Bishop & Barnard mowers are very unusual and are highly prized by collectors.