Grow Your Own Magazine

A list of archaic measures.
In bold the measure, followed by its:
more familiar imperial measure definition.
metric or SI measure definition.
a comment on its origin or its relation to other measures.

Square rod, pole or perch
5.5 x 5.5 yards equalling 30.5 sq yds
25.292 sq m
Also called a rod, pole or perch, context defines the measure.
Usually only used in allotment measures and interchangeable term used varies by location.
Standard allotment plot is usually ten rods.

Rood
Either square rod or 0.25 acre
Definition varies by original document.

Acre
160 sq rods or 4840 sq yd
0.4047 ha
An acre can contain 16 standard allotment plots.

Hectare
2.471 acres
100m x 100m
0.01 sq km
Modern measure included for completeness.

Square mile
640 acres.
2.590 sq km

Square Inch
6.452sq cm

Square Foot
929.03 Sq cm

Square Yard
0.8361 sq m


Arpent
~ 1 acre
Old French term, measure of vinyeards. Still used in parts of Canada.

square furlong
10 acres

Virgate
5.5 x 5.5 yards equalling 30.5 sq yds
25.292 sq m
or
30 acres
12.141 ha
An obsolete measure, see also rod, pole, perch.
or
An obsolete measure of land totalling 0.25 hide.

Hide
120 acres
A Saxon measure. The amount of land necessary to support one family. Used in the Domesday Book. Variable between ~60 and ~240 acres. The area able to be cultivated by team of eight oxen in a year. Also carucate in the area of the Danelaw.

Yoke
0.25 sulung
A Kentish measure

Sulung
2 hides
A Kentish measure.

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Always thank people who have helped you immediately, as they may not be around to thank later.
Visit my blog at http://podsplot.blogspot.com/
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That's great Peter. Thanks.

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[

Thanks for that Peter - shall keep it as reference for the future. DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Anyone know what a bushel and a peck are then?

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

A Chain
This is the distance of hedge that can be layed by a hedgelayer in 1 day (22yrds) And that is hard work even with modern tools!

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http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk - A guide for moon planters

Gettaway win yer!!!I could lay more than a chain a day with my eyes shut, then do a days graft after I had my breakfast!!

It takes a fast bowler a split second to bowl that distance also!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Confused? yes I am thanks! DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Anyone know what a bushel and a peck are then

A bushel is 8 gallons of dry material ie grain or flour and a peck is the amount of dirt you have got eat before you die 2 gallons

Don't think I'll try that one then.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Funny that, my mum used to say that when I was being particularily fussy about some food item " Get awaywithyeh" she'd say " You've got to eat a peck of dirt before you die!"

So, now I know, NOT to fill a two gallon watering can with soil and eat it, or else I'll die!

Good job I found that out, I was just filling this watering can with soil and thinking of having it for ny brekkie!!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

It's amazing what you lot north of Winchester will consider nutritious

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Bushels somethng for covering lights so you can't fid them and a peck is someting a nasty chicken does

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Put 8 gallons of dry material on any light and you'd be hard pushed to find it!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

So peter piper picked 2 gallons then??? Bet he was unpopular the next day :-)

I never understood why? people want to keep the old weights & measures system.So complicated !!

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

Heritage dear boy! It was based on real things, a pace= a yard. an inch= distance from end of thumb to first joint, a foot=self explanatory!.All the rest were based on how much a man could plough in a day or area a family could survive on. Better than this new fangled metric system which is a numerical system based on nothing.
Even the old game of cricket was payed on a wicket that is 22yds or a chain apart! A chain is part of a furlong which is part of a mile! Long live imperial measurements, or do we all want to become metric European beurocrats? Just realised this wine is 14% proof...think i'll shut up now!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Tell you what snadger.

I'll agree with you if you can get computers to think in fractions. decimals are horrid but without base 10 etc as a way of divising I think I'd end up shooting myself at the end of the day. imperial calcualtions and programming....

Arrrghhhhhhh.

Angie (going to get some more wine now to recover from the horror)

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Newbie gardener in Cumbria.
Just started my own website on gardening:

http://angie.weblobe.net/Gardening/

If imperial measures were all you had you wouldn't have anything to compare it with!

When you had a quids worth of change in your pockets which could be 240 huge bronze pennies or 480 hapneys or a mixture of theepenny bits, tanners,shillings,half dollars and florins, the weight in your pocket made you think you were rich............. and your troosers fall down!

Full credit to the yanks who have still kept imperial weights and measures, they have even resisted metrication in engineering!

God forbid we adopt the Euro and become another member state without an identitiy!

Rule Brittannia!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Mmmm 3& a half ozs of cheese at 4/7d halfpenny a pound work that one out in your head!!!

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

960 farthings! Try counting that lot!!!

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

1 : 63,360 scale on old ordnance survey maps

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields