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The rod, perch, or pole (sometimes also lug) is a surveyor's tool [1] and unit of length of various historical definitions. In British imperial and US customary units, it is defined as 16 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet, equal to exactly 1 ⁄ 320 of a mile, or 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 yards (a quarter of a surveyor's chain), and is exactly 5.0292 meters.
A rood is also an obsolete British unit of linear measure between 16 + 1 ⁄ 2 and 24 feet (5.0–7.3 m). It is related to the German Rute and the Danish rode. [4] [5] The original OED of 1914 said this sense was "now only in local use, and varying from 6 to 8 yards" (or 18 to 24 ft, "Rood", II.7).
The megalithic yard is a hypothetical ancient unit of length equal to about 2.72 feet (0.83 m). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Some researchers believe it was used in the construction of megalithic structures. The proposal was made by Alexander Thom as a result of his surveys of 600 megalithic sites in England , Scotland , Wales and Brittany . [ 4 ]
The term, yard derives from the Old English gerd, gyrd etc., which was used for branches, staves and measuring rods. [5] It is first attested in the late 7th century laws of Ine of Wessex, [6] where the "yard of land" mentioned [6] is the yardland, an old English unit of tax assessment equal to 1 ⁄ 4 hide.
The only thing that changed was the number of feet and yards in a rod or a furlong, and the number of square feet and square yards in an acre. The definition of the rod went from 15 old feet to 16 + 1 ⁄ 2 new feet, or from 5 old yards to 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 new yards. The furlong went from 600 old feet to 660 new feet, or from 200 old yards to 220 ...
These bars often used a unit of measure called a rod, of length equal to 5.5 yards, 5.0292 metres, 16.5 feet, or 1 ⁄ 320 of a statute mile. [23] A rod is the same length as a perch or a pole . [ 24 ]
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In the Midwest of the US it is not uncommon to encounter deeds with references to chains, poles, or rod units, especially in farming country. Minor roads surveyed in Australia and New Zealand in the 19th and early 20th centuries are customarily one chain wide. [9] The length of a cricket pitch is one chain (22 yards). [10] [11]