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Will be getting my first allotment this month and would like to know what ten poles means in allotment terms. In the dictionary I found that pole is both a linear and square unit.

I think it equates to about 300 square yards or 30' x 90'

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ntg

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Pole or Rod....depends on where in the country you are from. Is not a fixed unit of measurement. It was traditionly the length of the feet of the first 10 men out of church on a given Sunday. That was in days when there were more than 2 people in church.

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When I was at school we had Poles, rods and perches, but all I remember is that they were on the back of the exercise book!

Google gives this information on http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/length.htm

Length
12 lines = 1 inch
12 inches = 1 foot
3 feet = 1 yard
1760 yards = 1 mile
36 inches = 1 yard
440 yards = quarter mile
880 yards = half mile

100 links = 1 chain
10 chains = 1 furlong
8 furlongs = 1 mile
4 inches = 1 hand
22 yards = 1 chain
5.5 yards = 1 rod, pole or perch
4 poles = 1 chain
40 poles = 1 furlong

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Regards, Jane
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Hi all,

I actually know the answer to this - because I asked the same question a year or so ago and got such a varied response that I made some investigations.

A POLE is a specific measure of length originally taken from the nose of the oxen to the back of the plough - which is now accepted as 5 1/2 yards.

A pole is the same as a rod or perch all are equal 5 1/2 yards.

I believe, although I can't be 100% sure, that a plot of 8 poles is 264 square yards which equates to 6 poles in length (33 yards) and the width being 8 yards which was the number of rows an oxen could plough in a half day - then it needed a rest.

regards,
Welshie

When people phone me about an allotment I avoid answering that question and when they visit the allotment I point to a 10 pole plot and say "Thats 10 pole" !!

Funny that, my lottie is exactly 5 1/2 yards/ 1 pole wide!!! Haven't measured the length but if it is 10 poles it should be 55yds long? Sounds about right!

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A pole is 5.5 yard in length or an area 30.25 sq. yards. So that makes a 10 pole plot 302.5 sq yards or amost 253 sq.metres. Hope that helps.

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Digger-07

"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right" Henry Ford.

Thank you Digger, that sounds right. I knew the linear unit was 5.5 yards and also knew that the lottie 'pole' had to be a square unit and that a 10 pole lottie was approx 300 square yards. I hadn't done the math but now I realise that in lottie speak they are not really poles but square poles. QED

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