Lawnmower Comes Home

What everyday items can you buy that are made in Keynsham?  Probably very few. 

But there was a time when an award-winning lawn-mower was made on the edge of the town.  ‘The Keynsham’ was manufactured by the Tangent Tool & Engineering Company at its workshops on the Bath Road.  Petrol-driven, it was made from the mid-1920s and was a high-quality machine - very expensive at £25.

More than a thousand were made and, remarkably, several examples survive. Last month, one of these was donated to the Keynsham & Saltford Local History Society.  It had been owned by retired engineer Geoff Wallis of Filton, who spotted it outside a bric-a-brac shop on Gloucester Road and decided to save it for posterity.   He now needs the space and so was looking for new home for the veteran machine.

The site of Tangent factory was where the Esso filling station/Morrisons now stands so it was felt appropriate to photograph it on the very site where it was made in 1932.  In fact Tangent was taken over in 1931 but work continued for about a year under new owners, so this would have been one of the last produced.    

The mower would be an ideal item to display in a Keynsham Museum but for the time being it is being housed by one of the Society’s supporters who has storage space.   Richard Dyson, from the Local History Society, was involved in collecting the mower.  He commented  “We are very grateful for this unusual piece of local history. From time to time we are offered memorabilia, but this is a bit larger than most.  You never know what the next phone call will bring.”

Richard Dyson

29 September 2025

Images Below:

Left Image: The Tangent Lawnmower on Bath Road where it was made in 1932

Right Image: The maker’s plate on the mower