Historical context
Weights and measures
Surveys, inventories and accounts measure land, grain, cloth and goods. The names are familiar, but their size could change from place to place and from one commodity to another.
Land
- Acre
- 4 roods, or 160 square perchesZupko
- Rood
- A quarter of an acre: 40 square perchesZupko
- Perch
- Also called a rod or pole: 16½ feet by statute, but local perches of 18, 20 or 21 feet were common, so local acres were biggerZupko
Grain, cloth and goods
- Bushel
- A dry measure of grain, 8 gallonsZupko
- Quarter
- 8 bushelsZupko
- Yard and ell
- Cloth was sold by the yard of 3 feet, or by the ell, which in England was usually 1¼ yardsZupko
- Stone
- Often 14 lb, but other weights for some goodsZupko
- Hundredweight
- Usually 112 lb. In accounts C. can stand for it.Zupko; Hector p. 40
They varied
- By place
- The same word could mean a different size in the next county, or on the next manorZupko
- By commodity
- A stone of one thing need not weigh the same as a stone of another. Read the measure as the document's own, not a modern one.Zupko
Sources
- Hector: L. C. Hector, The Handwriting of English Documents (1958)
- Zupko: R. E. Zupko, A Dictionary of English Weights and Measures (1968)
Facts from these sources, in our own words. Page numbers are the printed pages.