Fred Hartwell, a farm labourer who
became Preston's roadman, scything the paddock behind Lockes Farm, now Penny
Meer and Meadowcroft, in 1959.
The scythe, a farm tool which
remains fixed in popular culture by its popularity with the Grim Reaper, was
used to mow corn and grass. It was a deceptively difficult tool to master – if
used incorrectly, the stems would be knocked flat rather than severed, and so
be impossible to harvest – and a good assessment of a farm labourer's ability
was his speed and skill at reaping. A good worker could scythe around an acre a
day.
Horse-drawn reaping machines were
invented in the mid 19th century, and the workload of the large
teams of men with scythes became a task for a single labourer leading a horse.
Smaller areas of grass such as orchards and the village greens – scythed by
roadman Fred Hartwell – were mowed by
hand for another hundred years. Only when the petrol-driven lawnmower arrived
on the scene was the scythe relegated to history and myth.
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