Towards the end of the Second World War, local builder Douglas Hayter was attempting to satisfy an urgent need for affordable temporary housing. As adequate materials were scarce, these buildings had to be made principally from timber. The drying sheds used to cure the wood were hard to access through overgrown grass. Not to be thwarted, Mr Hayter addressed the problem by mounting a 2 stroke motorcycle engine on top of a dustbin lid, added some wheels, attached a sharpened blade to the crankshaft and a mower was born. The solution attracted the interest and attention of visitors whose requests for copies turned Hayter from house maker to mower maker, the role it has maintained to this day.

Many significant mowers have emanated from the site in Spellbrook, a hamlet between Harlow and Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire. There have been grass toppers, hay cutters, orchard mowers, bank mowers and pedestrian controlled models like the evergreen Hayterette introduced during the 1960s. Another milestone was the introduction of the 19" Harrier model in 1970. So successful is this machine that even twenty eight years later it was voted Product of the Decade by those discerning critics, the dealers who sell them.