<P> Lawn is a cognate of llan which is derived from the Common Brittonic word landa (Old French: launde) that originally means heath, barren land, or clearing . </P> <P> Lawns may have originated as grassed enclosures within early medieval settlements used for communal grazing of livestock, as distinct from fields reserved for agriculture . The word "laune" is first attested in 1540, and is likely related to the Celtic Brythonic word lan / llan / laun, which has the meaning of enclosure, often in relation to a place of worship . </P> <P> Lawns became popular with the aristocracy in northern Europe from the Middle Ages onward . The early lawns were not always distinguishable from pasture fields . The damp climate of maritime Western Europe in the north made lawns possible to grow and manage . They were not a part of gardens in other regions and cultures of the world until contemporary influence . </P> <P> Before the invention of mowing machines in 1830, lawns were managed very differently . They were an element of wealthy estates and manor houses, and in some places were maintained by the labor - intensive methods of scything and shearing . In most situations, they were also pasture land maintained through grazing by sheep or other livestock . Areas of grass grazed regularly by rabbits, horses or sheep over a long period often form a very low, tight sward similar to a modern lawn . This was the original meaning of the word "lawn", and the term can still be found in place names . Some forest areas where extensive grazing is practiced still have these seminatural lawns . For example, in the New Forest, England, such grazed areas are common, and are known as lawns, for example Balmer Lawn . Lawns similar to those of today first appeared in France and England in the 1700s when André Le Nôtre designed the gardens of Versailles that included a small area of grass called the tapis vert, or "green carpet". </P>

Where did the concept of a lawn come from
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