The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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(very)old horse drawn mower photograph

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bugbear Tue, 09/05/2023

From the remarkable "Unidentified photos of the British Isles Group" Facebook group, where they identify the location of photographs using remarkable powers of observation and deduction...

This is a photograph of Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire. For some reason the apparent lady of the house is posing with some gardeners and a horse drawn mower.

Horse drawn mower, servants, large house

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stonethemows Tue, 09/05/2023

Yes a splendid and evocative photo. It is more significant than it appears at first sight; I don't know who the lady is but this is the ancestral home of Charles Darwin, though he never lived there. The lady is probably in the photo because the horse drawn mower would have been regarded as something of a status symbol and great novelty. What is more unusual is that the ' man of the house ' is not present as well.  I did wonder if he might be the chap holding the mower, bearing in mind how much taller he is than the others - pure conjecture on my part.

Clive1997 Tue, 09/05/2023

A fantastic photo, thanks for posting, appears that was quite a popular Greens mower to be photographed, a large version of the familiar Silens Messor, we have several images of this model, a couple below showing the other side of the mower. The early one from 1898 is said to be Aston Manor? the other Downton Hall, Ludlow, Shrops.

Also a similar model from the 1904 Greens brochure.

I will perhaps take a look at the group you mention as we have many images with mowers in front of large houses etc that we have no idea when or where they were taken.