Pole, Rod or Perch?

I wish I’d kept one of my Essex County Council exercise books from the 1950’s. Not for the contents, but for the somewhat esoteric Arithmetical Tables printed on the back cover. Even then, however, I doubted the usefulness of:

HAY AND STRAW WEIGHT

36lbs of straw…………….1 truss
56lbs of old hay…………..1 truss
60lb of new hay…………..1 truss
36 trusses….......................1 load.

Land records, tenancies and wills often involve linear measure. We learned a pole was the same as a rod was the same as a perch, but had no sense of actual length. A pole is actually 5½ yards (about 5 metres).

The table read:

LONG OR LINEAR MEASURE

12 lines…………………….1 inch
12 inches…………………..1 foot
3 feet………………………1 yard
2 yards…………………….1 fathom
5½ yards…………………..1 pole
40 poles……………………1 furlong
8 furlongs………………….1 mile
1760 yards…………………1 mile

By the Weights and Measures Act 1878, the ‘pole’ had become standardised, but its length was originally determined by 16 men of the village each placing one foot, heel to toe, along a piece of wood. The measurement therefore varied from place to place. The ‘standard pole’ was kept in the church and used when a measure was needed. Incidentally, for square measure, you needed roods, 4 roods made an acre.

And I wonder how frequently was the Cloth Measure used?

2¼ inches…………………..1 nail
4 nails………………………1 quarter of a yard
4 quarters…………………..1 yard