Obsolete Scottish units of measurement Totally Explained

Several native system of weights and measures were used in Scotland. Many of these bore the same name as England's Imperial units, or have been conflated with them. The origins of the systems are many, some being continental, some Norse, some Pictish, and some Gaelic. Many of the measurement systems were standardised by the Parliament of Scotland in 1661, but were technically abolished in 1824 by an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and replaced with English units. Some of these continued in usage, informal or otherwise, well into the 20th century. Others, however, were not so long lived.

Length

Inch – 2.554 cm (slightly longer than an English inch)
Foot – 12 Scots inches, 30.65 cm
Ell – Elbow, 37 Scots inches, 94.50 cm
Fall/Faw – 18 Scots feet, 5.517 m (551.7 cm)
Mile, A Scottish mile was the same length as the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. (320 falls, 1814.2 m) This is about a tenth longer than an English mile, and is referred to by Robert Burns in Tam o'Shanter - "We think na on the lang Scots miles".

Area

A number of conflicting systems were used for area, sometimes bearing the same names in different regions, but working on different conversion rates. Because some of the systems were based on what land would produce, rather than the physical area, they're listed in their own section. Please see individual articles for more specific information. Because fertility varied widely, in many areas, production was considered a more practical measure.

Area by size

For information on the squared units, please see the appropriate articles in the length section

Square inch

Square ell

Square Fall/Faw

Rood

Acre

Area by production

Ounceland equivalent to 20 pennylands or 1/8 markland/merkland (1/12 markland in Islay)

ploughgate

Oxgang

Davoch

Pennyland

Farthingland (Feòirling) – were equal to ¼ pennyland.

Markland (Scots)

Volume

Dry volume

Dry volume measures were slightly different for various types of grain, but often bore the same name.

Chalder

Boll

Firlot

Peck

Lippie or Forpet

Fluid

Gill

Mutchkin

Chopin

Pint (Scots)/Joog

Gallon

Weight

Weight was measure according to "Troy Measure" (Lanark) and "Tron Measure" (Edinburgh), which were standardised in 1661. In the Troy system these often bore the same name as imperial measures.

Drop/drap

Ounce

Pound/Poon

Stone/Stane Various local measures all existed, often using local weighing stones.

External results

Click here for more details on Obsolete Scottish Units Of Measurement

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://obsolete_scottish_units_of_measurement.totallyexplained.com">Obsolete Scottish units of measurement Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.