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More Measures
| "It is to be lamented that one general measure is
not in use throughout all England,
but every market town hath in manner a several bushel.
Such is the covetousness of many clerks of the market, that in taking view of
measures they will always so provide that one and the same bushel shall either
be too big or too little…so that divers unconscionable dealers have one measure
to sell by and another to buy withal; the like also in weights." |
Trade goods of various kinds traditionally have their own customary measures,
although some actual amounts are variable. A dozen is always 12, but barrels
come in varying sizes.
A Scottish ell is about a yard (16 nails of two-and-a-quarter inches),
but an English ell is 45 inches (20 nails).
| These |
Are sold by the |
Butter, beer, herring, salmon and other fish, eels
Tar, pitch, gunpowder
Wines | Barrel |
| Honey and other thick liquids | Bolle |
| Sackcloth, sailcloth, and quantities of haircloth | Bolt |
Hay, straw, wood, lime, rushes
(In smaller quantities, rushes are sold by the creel
or the shoulder load) | Cartload |
| New coal, salt, quicklime, shells. | Chaldron |
| A 7-pound quantity of wool | Clove |
| Glass | Cradle |
| Hurdles, tanned hides, napkins, sheepskins, needles | Diker |
| Candles (also sold by weight) | Dozen |
| Linen and small lengths of haircloth | Ell |
| Soft fruits | Frail |
| Smaller quantities of goods otherwise sold by the barrel | Firkin |
Sources:
Dorothy Hartley, Lost Country Life
Lena Cowen Orlin, Elizabethan Households, 1995
William Harrison, A Description of England, 1587
 Numbers & Measures, Dates & Clocks
2 August 2005 pkm
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