Why, how and when did the Victorians Cut Grass?

The nineteenth century was the century of the new.    A significant period for gardening in Britain. 

There were new tools for cutting, pruning digging and weeding.   The lawnmower was invented in 1831 by Edward Beard Budding (1796-1846), an engineer in a textile factory who adapted a cloth-shearing machine to provide the perfect smooth lawn.    In 1842 he invented the adjustable spanner.

The large mower on great estates was pulled by a horse wearing leather shoes, to protect the close cut sward.    The smaller version  was easy to push and adopted throughout the country in small city gardens.

The Horticultural Society became Royal in 1861 when Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert (1819-1861), obtained a charter for what we now know as the RHS.

Plant hunting became fashionable and was sponsored by wealthy gardeners, nurserymen and the Royal Horticultural Society.    The plant hunters themselves were knowledgeable and worked hard against all odds sending back to Britain a flood of new plants.    In particular Rhododendrons, Hydrangeas, Chrysanthemums, Peonies, Clematis and Camellias.  Orchids, because of the difficulties of transporting, were considered the most exotic of all plants.

Plants arrived from South and North America, South Africa, China, India, Japan and New Zealand, Siberia and the Caucasus.

    Holker Hall, Cark in Cartmel 

Many of the plants were tender and had to be grown under glass.    The Romans made the first greenhouses and in the 17th Century most of the greenhouses were exclusively used as Orangeries.    With the advent of cast iron it was possible to build large crystal palaces.    The Head Gardener at Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire, was Joseph Paxon (1803 - 1865), he erected the first cast iron and glass houses there in 1840.    

The tax on glass was repealed in 1845 and the way became open for the Crystal Palace to be built in Hyde Park, London, for the Great Exhibition of 1851.    Joseph Paxton included in his design of the tracery the leaf veins of the Great Water Lily, Victoria Regia.   He had succeeded in flowering the lily at Chatsworth so named it after Queen Victoria (1819-1901).   

Most great houses vied to produce exotic plants and fruit.    Cast iron pipes made heating these structures easier.    Everyone wanted greenhouses and conservatories full of ferns and rare plants.

Heated walled gardens became fashionable.    Large gardens went back to a classical Italian style and featured stone terraces with balustrades, decorated with vases and sculpture.    The terraces were linked with flights of steps and fountains were common.

    Sizergh Castle, near Kendal

Plants included specimen trees - the Wellingtonia, Cedar and Monkey Puzzle.    Elaborate displays of carpet bedding were set against smooth lawns mowed by the lawnmower.

Topiary came back into vogue.    With it the more sombre shrubbery and rustic features.

The nineteenth century was a time of progress, widening horizons, industry and empire but at the same time there was a reinstatement of the traditional .    An obsession with the past also found its way into how people thought about gardens and how they planned them, used them and worked in them.    This was the influence of historical novels, ancient ballads and Pre-Raphaelites medievalism.

Garden designs move in waves of reaction.

At the beginning of the century, in the backlash from the French Revolution, wild nature became less attractive.   Mowed lawns, trellis work, geometry in plants and balustrades eliminated nature from gardens.

Formality began in the reign of Queen Victoria and was to continue through the reign of her son, King Edward VII (1841-1910).