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An acre is an area that is one furlong long and one chain (66 feet or 22 yards) wide. For this reason, the furlong was once also called an acre's length, [2] though in modern usage an area of one acre can be of any shape. The term furlong, or shot, was also used to describe a grouping of adjacent strips within an open field. [3]
[1] [2] There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. [2] In metric terms, it is 20.1168 m long. [2] By extension, chainage (running distance) is the distance along a curved or straight survey line from a fixed commencing point, as given by an odometer.
In contrast, the furlong/firkin/fortnight system of units of measurement draws attention by being extremely old fashioned and off-beat at the same time. [1] One furlong per fortnight is very nearly 1 centimetre per minute (to within 1 part in 400).
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The rod is useful as a unit of length because integer multiples of it can form one acre of square measure (area). The 'perfect acre' [2] is a rectangular area of 43,560 square feet, bounded by sides 660 feet (a furlong) long and 66 feet (a chain) wide (220 yards by 22 yards) or, equivalently, 40 rods by 4 rods. An acre is therefore 160 square ...
An area of land one chain (four rods) wide by one furlong in length. As the traditional furlong could vary in length from country to country, so did the acre. In England an acre was 4,840 square yards (4,050 m 2 ), in Scotland 6,150 square yards (5,140 m 2 ) and in Ireland 7,840 square yards (6,560 m 2 ).
From the Middle Ages on, the word stadium has been used as a synonym for the furlong (which is 220 yards, equal to one eighth of a mile), which is of Old English origin. [ 11 ] See also
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