5. The Rod, Furlong, Mile, and League
The earliest table of English linear measures is probably that in Arnold’s ‘Customs of London,’ c. 1500.
The lengith of a barly corne iij tymes make an ynche
and xij ynches make a fote
and iij fote make a yerde
and v quatirs of the yarde make an elle
v fote make a pace
cxxv pace make a furlong
and viij furlong make an English myle.
Thus, in 1500, the furlong was 125 × 5 = 625 feet, and the mile = 5000 feet = 1666·6 yards.
The mile was originally the Roman mile, 1000 paces or 5000 Roman feet, and = (5000 × 11·67)/(3 × 12) in. = 1621-1/3 yards. So in course of time our mile had become 5000 English feet.
But the linear unit for land measurement was not, as in the Roman system, a pertica or rod of 10 or 12 feet; it became very early, on the Teutonic system, a rod of 16 feet, with varieties, under French influence later on, of 18, of 21 and 24 feet.
In early Plantagenet times, not later than Edward I, the statute rod was fixed at 5-1/2 yards or 16-1/2 feet. Thus, while the rood, that is the field-furlong, was 40 rods or perches of 16-1/2 feet = 660 feet, the itinerary furlong, 1/8 mile, remained 625 feet, ‘xxxviij perchis sauf ij fote’ (Arnold’s ‘Chronicle’). This clashing of the new statute rod, and its multiple the rood or field-furlong of 40 rods, with the ancient itinerary furlong now only = 37·87 rods, was rectified in Tudor times, probably temp. Henry VII, but definitely by a statute of Elizabeth which raised the furlong to coincide with the rood. The mile thus became of its present length, 8 furlongs of 40 rods of 5-1/2 yards = 1760 yards = 5280 feet. The mile has then successively been:
| 1.—Roman mile | of | 5000 Roman feet | = 1621·3 | yards. | ||||
| 2.—Old English mile | „ | 5000 | English | „ | = 1666·6 | „ | ||
| 3.—New | „ | „ | „ | 5280 | „ | „ | = 1760 | „ |
For long measurements chains came into use, and shortly after 1600 Edward Gunter introduced, for surveying purposes, measurement by a chain of 4 rods, i.e. a ‘brede’ or ‘acre-brede,’ the breadth of an acre of 40 × 4 rods, divided into 100 links.
So the multiples of the yard are now:
| 5 | -1/2 | yards | = 1 rod | ||||||
| 22 | „ | or | 4 | rods, | or | 100 | links | = 1 chain | |
| 220 | „ | „ | 40 | „ | „ | 10 | chains | = 1 furlong (rood) | |
| 1760 | „ | „ | 320 | „ | „ | 80 | „ or 8 furlongs | = 1 mile |
The Scots mile and the Irish mile were equally 8 furlongs of 40 rods, but Scots and Irish rods (see [Chap. XIV]).
| Scots | mile | 320 | rods of | 6 ells (6·1766 yards) | = 1976 | yards |
| Irish | „ | „ | „ | 7 yards | = 2240 | „ |
The term Yard has been used for certain large land-measures. These, with the evolution of the Rod, will be given in the next chapter.
The League
It has been seen that the Persian Parasang was three meridian miles, or 3000 Olympic fathoms. France retains this as the lieue marine of 20 to the degree, and Southern France long retained a league of 3 miles each of 1000 toises or cannes. But in Roman times the Leuca or Leuga of Gaul was 1-1/2 Roman miles. It passed to medieval England at about the same length, being defined as duodecim quaranteinis, 12 furlongs or roods of 40 rods.
[12]. The usual dimensions of bricks are a span by a half-span, by a nail.
[13]. The story of the Nail will be found in [Chap. XX].
[14]. The Standards Commission in 1870 advised that the public standards of length should be placed so as to be readily accessible to the public without their use ‘being disturbed by passers or idle gazers.’ Anyone who has tried to get access to those in Trafalgar Square may regret that there seems to be no provision made against their site being made the usual lounge of often very objectionable persons.