December 2011

Plan of a snow plough, c 1814

Reference: DD/M/111/109

You think our winters are bad? If this snow plough is anything to go by, they must have been bitterly cold two hundred years ago!

This is a plan of a snow plough, 'to be worked by two horses, attached to whippings, or splinter-bar, to clear the snow seven feet wide'. The instructions say that the pole should be made of 'tough ash', and be fastened in place with an iron pin. The 'nose', at the front, is to be 'shod with an iron clip'. The plough following the horses should be four feet high and seven feet wide, and a chair for a driver could be fixed to the top.

The nose of the plough would be forced forward by the horses, to clear the snow in front of them. It is advised that if the nose should run into the ground, a man may walk between the sides to raise it occasionally.

See the plan of the snow plough in more detail here [PDF 2721KB]

The plan is part of the records of Stenton and Metcalfe, solicitors of Southwell. Their records include title deeds, manorial court rolls, wills, maps, leases, valuations, correspondence accounts and papers on turnpikes, elections, shrievalty and other subjects.

Find out more about solicitors' collections held at Nottinghamshire Archives on our Solicitors' Records page.

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