Curious collections: History and celebrity at the British Lawnmower Museum, Southport

Located in sunny Southport, the British Lawnmower Museum is a celebration of one of our most ordinary household items. Internationally famous, it is devoted to keeping a small part of British engineering heritage alive.

The restored exhibits include mowers from manufacturers not usually associated with the garden industry, such as Rolls Royce, Royal Enfield, Dennis, and many more.

The museum supplies lawnmowers and garden machinery for film and TV, such as the Downton Abbey movie and curator Brian Radam says if you look closely, you might spot his feet in the shot too.

Donations from the general public are accepted and restored and they could stand alongside machines from H.R.H. Prince Charles, Vanessa Feltz, Brian May, Paul O’Grady, Eric Morecambe and many more in the collection.

Curator Brian Radam says: ”One of the reasons that we started the museum is because the British machinery in the garden machinery industry was some of the biggest in the world. Sadly we’ve lost such a lot of it. We started collecting the machines when the companies that made them closed down.”

Who invented the lawnmower?

Well, the lawnmower was patented by Edwin Beard Budding in 1830. He was working in a textile mill in Stroud, Gloucester, where he designed a machine initially to trim the knap off the cloth. His revolutionary idea was to use it to cut grass! People thought the idea was pretty eccentric at the time, so he tested the machine at night so no one could see him.

The Museum displays 300 restored pristine machines, part of over a thousand that span the history of garden machinery.

Did you know...

We’re all keen to do our bit when it comes to climate change, but did you know that just by having grass in your garden, you’re helping? Grass plays a crucial role in producing oxygen, producing it at a rate greater than trees.

The Museum is open Monday - Saturday, 9 AM - 5:30 PM.

Watch the video at above for a sneak peek inside the British Lawnmower Museum and more from curator Brian Radam.