This dray marks a time when the use of horse-drawn drays for farm work was coming to an end. Mechanization and farm tractors replaced drays from the 1930s onwards, with the skills of and reliance on village blacksmiths and wheelwrights becoming redundant.

The dray was made for Henry Eldon Yarrington of Lower Bow Hill near Wingham and used for heavy haulage on Lower Bow Hill farm. Made of hardwood, the dray was designed to be single horse-drawn, but two draft horses could be used for heavy-duty farm work such as carting corn to be stored in the barn and gravel for road repairs. The dray had a multipurpose use on the property where there was a reliance on work horses to carry fence posts, tools, building materials, feed for stock, and other equipment for jobs around the farm.

Use of the dray at Lower Bow Hill farm ceased soon after the Yarrington family purchased its first Massey Ferguson tractor in March 1951. The dray was restored to showroom order in the 2010s, with its paint color and scroll decorations based on its original design.